Into the Woods
by shinealightonme
Summary: The travelers arrive in a new world and find themselves in the middle of a war they can't help but get involved with. Chapter eight: in which Sakura, Kurogane, and Tomoyo get into a bit of trouble.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: Tsubasa belongs to CLAMP, who is plotting to make me even crazier and less patient than I was to begin with XD

-

"What the hell was that about, manjuu?" Kurogane yelled, pressing his right hand against his bleeding forehead.

"Ah, Kuro-pon, don't be mad at Mokona, it's not his fault," Fai replied calmly, completely unfazed by the other man's temper.

"Like hell it's not! He did that on purpose!" The ninja stood and grabbed at Mokona but missed.

"Mokona doesn't control where we land! If you land in a tree, it's your own fault if you fall out!" Kurogane's angry growl indicated that he disagreed with Mokona's logic. He continued to chase the small white creature, who was used to being chased and had gotten very good at staying far enough away to be safe but close enough to taunt.

The scene was so familiar that the other three travelers hardly noticed it. Syaoran was too busy helping Sakura. The princess had, like Kurogane, landed in a tree, but she had managed to stay safely _in _the tree, and Syaoran was helping her climb down. The fact the branch she was perched on was not very high and she could have climbed down just fine on her own did not appear to have occurred to either of them.

Fai, who might have otherwise joined in the chase, was too busy observing his surroundings. They had landed a small clearing in a forest. The sky was dark except for a pale blue tinge in the east that suggested the sun would rise soon. Aside from Kurogane's attempts at murder, the woods were quiet. Everything seemed rather peaceful, especially compared to the fighting in the world they had just left behind.

That was the first clue that something was wrong – Fai had been in trouble in various dimensions and knew that a little paranoia is a good thing. And who wouldn't be paranoid when surrounded on all sides by hostile magic?

The magician sighed. Oh, how dull life was when it was serious! And now he was going to have to be the one to make everything serious! He could at least have a bit of fun first, he thought, smiling wickedly and sticking out his foot as Kurogane ran by.

The ninja was not distracted enough – or stupid enough – to fall for that trick, and all Fai succeeded in doing was making himself the object of Kurogane's anger. "Bastard! Did you just try to trip me?"

"Yup! But Kuro-rin is too smart for that!" The wizard's smile did not even flicker as Kurogane placed his hand on Souhi's hilt. "I was just trying to get your attention, Kuro-wanwan. If you didn't stop chasing Mokona, you were going to set off some rather unpleasant spells," he explained.

"What do you mean?" The question didn't come from the ninja, whose red eyes were narrowed with suspicion, but from Syaoran, who clung protectively to Sakura. The boy's worst-case-scenario mind presented him with dozens of things that 'unpleasant spells' could be a euphemism for, and he was not going to let any of those happen to his princess.

"Exactly what I said," Fai said with a shrug. "This forest is full of spells, and none of them seem agreeable." The mage stopped when Syaoran and Sakura's eyes widened with shock and the boy clung to the girl in a way that was, if possible, even more protective. _Oh dear._

He turned and caught sight of a pack of animals. He couldn't tell what they were – something of a mix between wolves and lizards – but he could tell they weren't friendly. The creatures moved swiftly, and he barely had time to raise his staff to block before the first attack came.

Kurogane grinned savagely as he drew his sword. This was better than chasing a hyperactive rabbit or worrying about spells he couldn't see. The thrill of battle was not decreased at all by the fact that there were about twenty-five of the creatures. If anything, it made the battle more interesting.

The monsters had an unnatural way of slithering quickly and ending up being someplace quite different from where they had been a second before. The ninja had no trouble defending against their attacks, but hadn't managed to attack successfully, either. "Interesting" changed to "vexing" as the fight continued for a few minutes as more of a dance than anything else.

"Damn it you bastards, stay in one place!" he roared.

"Ah, that's not very fair," Fai said from over near Sakura's side. "I don't think they want you to kill them."

"Then they shouldn't have attacked me!" It only took a second for Kurogane to turn and glare at the blond (who, though he could not actually see the ninja, still knew he was being glared at). That was enough time, though, for three monsters to leap for him. He was impressed with their speed but not with their intelligence – they didn't really think they could surprise him like that, did they? He swung Souhi in a vicious arc that sliced neatly through two of the creatures.

Those two fell to the forest floor, dead, and the third leapt to the side and retreated hastily. Kurogane's brief feeling of victory soon died, though. Two more monsters sprang up immediately from behind their fallen comrades to attack.

He lost track of time. Normally the ninja loved fighting, but this was ridiculous. More of the creatures were arriving to help the original pack, so that no matter how many he cut down there were more to surge up from behind them.

The monotony was broken when Kurogane stabbed one of the creatures. He could not even guess at this point how many he had killed, and at first it seemed like this one would be no different from the others. However, this animal did not fall to the ground dead, but just kind of vanished. Kurogane assumed the worst, having, like Fai, a healthy level of paranoia.

Syaoran yelped "What?" and, for a second, his face showed expression other than protective loyalty. His confusion was caused by the same phenomenon that Kurogane had just observed. Even as the kid paused for a moment he saw that the creatures were blinking out of existence as if they had never been there.

"What just happened?" Sakura asked, nervously looking over her shoulder. The forest seemed as peaceful as the moment they had arrived and the only sounds the travelers did not make came from a slight breeze moving through the branches.

"Some damn magic thing," Kurogane muttered. "Hey, wizard! What was all that?"

"I hate to disappoint you, Kuro-pii, but I don't know," Fai said, shrugging his shoulders as though it didn't really matter. "You could ask the person in that tree, though."

The ninja spun around, cursing himself for not having noticed that someone was behind him and cursing Fai for, well, being Fai.

A person sat in a tree about ten feet away from him and ten feet above his head. He examined the figure and decided Fai had been rather hasty in declaring this apparition a person. In the early morning light it was clear that this _thing_, while very convincingly human-shaped, was not quite substantial enough to be a person. It looked as someone had made a life-sized doll out of smoke.

"What are you?" Kurogane growled, gripping Souhi more tightly. The ghostly creature in the tree smiled at this, knowing perfectly well that no sword could harm it. Fortunately for the ninja, the smoke-person did not plan to harm any of them.

"Oh relax," the creature in the tree said. Its voice was feminine, although its figure was too indistinct to indicate gender. "I'm just a little spell."

Syaoran, nervously remembering Fai's warning about "unpleasant spells," hastened to place himself between the princess and this unearthly newcomer. "What exactly to you mean by that?" he asked, proving once again that a polite request is more effective than an angry interrogation.

The indistinct figure smiled again, though it was very hard to tell. "I'm a smoke-servant – smoke that a magic user has shaped to serve a specific purpose. I'm only here to spy and deliver a message. I don't mean you any harm."

Syaoran hesitated. There was so much goodwill in the shadow's voice that it was hard to suspect that it intended to hurt them. Still, this journey had taught him nothing if not the importance of being careful, so he politely replied, "Forgive me for saying this, but I don't trust you completely."

This was perhaps the first time that a human had apologized to a smoke-servant. "That's quite alright. That's probably natural."

The shadow was beginning to annoy Kurogane. It smiled all the time and said cryptic things that it failed to explain. He wondered briefly if the magician who created it had ever met Fai. "You mentioned spying," Kurogane said, his voice quieter than before but more hostile.

"How careless of me to get distracted and forget what I have been sent to do. I have of course been spying on you."

The ninja had not expected such an open admission, but it did not throw him off balance for a second. His reaction was delayed, however, by the thought that a sword probably couldn't do much to a cloud of smoke. He didn't raise Souhi, but he did raise his voice. "That's your definition of doing no harm? Who sent you?"

"My master sent me," the creature in the tree said. If it were capable of emotion it would have been grateful for the distance that the tree placed between it and Kurogane. Instead, it just said "Perhaps _spying_ is the wrong word. I waited here for you to appear, and I watched you for long enough to determine that you were the people I was looking for. I shall of course tell my master what transpired, but I assure you, my master does not mean you any harm and will not do anything bad with the information. On the contrary, my master wants to help you."

It was even harder for Syaoran to trust the creature now than it had been before, so he was naturally quite surprised when Fai nodded. "Alright. What about the message you mentioned?"

Kurogane stared. The wizard had done a lot of stupid things on their journey and Kurogane was starting to expect this kind of thing. Still, he had thought that Fai could recognize that some situations required serious behavior. Apparently he'd been too optimistic – a mistake he didn't often make. "You believe this thing?"

"Of course," the wizard replied with his smug, isn't-it-obvious tone of voice. "That spell is too simple to lie. Only very complex magical creations are capable of lying. That smoke-servant is little more than a parrot that says what its master tells it too."

"Oh?" Kurogane asked. He kept his temper only because experience had taught him that yelling had no effect on Fai. "And what if its master lied to it?"

"He probably didn't," Fai replied cheerfully, seemingly unconcerned about the "probably" part of his statement. "If someone wanted to hurt us, it would be much easier to have the servant hide. What magician would be stupid enough to reveal himself to his enemies if he didn't need to?"

The look Kurogane gave Fai implied that a magician of such mental deficiency was standing right in front of him. Unfortunately, Fai had convinced the princess, and Syaoran seemed inclined to give the creature another chance to win his trust. Mokona had never been trouble by the shadow but rather felt a kinship for its fellow androgynous magical creature. The ninja was now in a minority of one and it made him resent the shadow as much as he distrusted it.

"Please come down," Sakura asked the figure in the tree. "I would like to see you better, and it is easier to talk when we're all on the same level."

The servant jumped down from the tree, although it fell through the air slowly. The princess walked toward the figure until the two were a few feet apart. Syaoran was a little less happy about how near Sakura was to this very odd stranger and compensated by staying as close to her side as propriety would allow.

Sakura found, however, that being close did not help her see the shadow any better. The more she tried to see it, the more she found herself examining the trees behind it. Later, when she tried to picture the servant, all she could recall was a faint outline of someone very short and slight who was perpetually smiling. This didn't seem to bother her much, and she decided to talk to the spell, since looking at it was nearly impossible. "What is your name?" she asked, returning its smile.

"I don't have one," the shadow said slowly, as though it had never thought of names before. "I'm very young. I was only created yesterday."

"That's no excuse!" Sakura exclaimed. "Everyone ought to have a name. Your creator should be ashamed for not give you one." She thought for a moment. "May I name you?"

The servant shrugged. Syaoran and Kurogane found something unsettling about the motion but couldn't decide what it was. "If you like," it replied.

"I shall call you Kage."

The shadow nodded, and again the men found something disconcerting about the gesture. "That name pleases me," it replied, but the bland politeness in its voice suggested that it would have found any name pleasing.

"Kage-san, could you tell us where we are?" the princess asked, gesturing at the forest around them. Syaoran realized that he had been so worried about the spell that he had completely forgotten his surroundings. He panicked for a moment and looked around him with wide eyes in case more lizard-wolves had snuck up while he was distracted.

"Of course, but first I would like to assure your friend that you are safe, for the moment." Kage stared at Syaoran as though _it_ could see through _him_. "You are in a place called Ven Woods which is not, generally, a safe place to be. However, my master anticipated your arrival and cast some spells to protect you from the various creatures and spells that are here."

"You keep mentioning this master of yours," Kurogane said, about as convinced by the servant's assurance of safety as he had been by its assurance of good intention. "You want to tell us about him?"

The shadow shook its head and apologized, "I can't do that. That could be dangerous for my master." Syaoran suddenly realized what was so unnerving about the creature. The servant looked less like it was moving through the air and more like the air was moving through it. It seemed as though a single wrong gesture would dispel the smoke and leave nothing but the trace of a smile. It was not a happy thought.

"If your master really isn't our enemy, why is he so afraid?"

The servant laughed. "Oh no, the danger would not be from you! My master is afraid that someone else will find out, and I cannot risk that happening. You never know who is listening. Which reminds me..." Kage glanced at the sky and spoke, this time very serious. "The first thing I am to do is get you out of the forest. This is a bad place to be, and my master cannot protect you for much longer."

Kurogane grinned wolfishly. "We're not scared of the forest. We handled those bastards just fine on our own."

Kage looked down, embarrassed to have to contradict someone. "The wolves are nocturnal creatures. They were very weak because it was nearly sunrise. At night, you would not survive – they travel in large packs, as I'm sure you noticed, and you could not kill all of them. Besides, there are other things in the forest worse than the animals."

"Like what?" Kurogane doubted that the forest was as bad as the servant said it was. Assuming the damn thing wasn't leading them into a trap, it was probably exaggerating the danger to make them feel more grateful at having been rescued.

Kage whispered so quietly that only Sakura heard. The princess looked at the shadow for a moment, then leaned over and placed her lips very close to Syaoran's ear. As hard as he tried, the boy could not keep his face from turning red, but Sakura did not notice. When she had repeated whatever secret Kage had told her, Syaoran nodded and turned to the men. "I really think we should leave," he said, and they could tell there was no arguing with him.

"You will lead the way?" Fai asked the shadow with a small bow.

The servant might have been surprised by this gesture if it were subject to such emotions. Instead it answered "Of course," and began to walk along a trail that really was too small for humans.

Kurogane sighed quietly. It seemed that no matter what decision they made, they were gambling their lives on the words of a mindless creature who had already confessed to spying. But he resigned himself to this fate and asked one more question. "Where are you taking us?"

"I can't tell you that now. I really think it should wait until we are out of the forest." With that last cheery comment, Kage set off down the path at a brisk pace, with Sakura right behind it. Syaoran followed her, glancing behind every tree and under every shrub for the unknown threat. Mokona skipped through the undergrowth as though the danger did not exist simply because he chose not to acknowledge it. Fai started to walk after them but Kurogane stepped in his way.

"Oh? You want to talk to me so badly you can't even wait until we're out of the forest? That's sweet of you, Kuro-chan."

"I want you to explain what the hell's going on around here."

"Well I'm afraid you're out of luck, Kuro-rin. I don't know."

Kurogane glared. In Japan, it was a glare that had caused brave men to break down in tears. For some reason Fai was immune to it. Kurogane was determined to discover why this was so that he could fix it. "You know about that damn shadow-monster."

"Not exactly," the wizard replied in a condescending tone. "The details of magic change from place to place, but many of the ideas are the same. I've never seen a 'smoke-servant' before, but they are similar to magically constructed beings in other dimensions. This one has barely any magic in it at all – meaning it's very simple and very weak." He looked past Kurogane to their friends and noticed how far behind they were getting. Before he could mention something about this and get out of this conversation, the ninja asked the question he had hoped not to hear.

"How did you _know_ it doesn't have much magic in it?"

Fai winced internally but gave no outward indication of how much this question bothered him. "Ah, well, I can tell," he said vaguely, cursing himself for forgetting how observant Kurogane was.

"You have to use magic to sense magic, which means you're lying again."

Damn the person who taught him that. Fai tried to distract the ninja from this inconvenient knowledge by annoying him. "What can I say? I'm complex," Fai shrugged with a laugh. "That makes me dishonest. You're problem is that you're too simple, Kuro-tan."

Kurogane scrutinized the wizard's face. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he didn't find it. "Have you finally gone insane?" he demanded of his blond companion.

Fai's smile took just a second longer to appear than it normally did. "Don't worry, Kuro-chi. When I go crazy, you won't have to ask. You'll know." His voice was carefree but the spark in his eyes made it clear that that was all he was going to say on the subject. He stepped around the ninja and followed the others. Kurogane had little choice but to follow, suspicion and exasperation wearing away at his nerves.

-

AN: Well, I hope you enjoyed this! My apologies if it seemed awkward or incoherent; it was something of a piece-wise chapter, since I wrote a bit, changed some, added some, changed some of that, etc. over an extended period of time. I will try to write future chapters in a more direct and efficient manner.

Any advice, opinions, or statements remotely related to this story are most appreciated and earn you my undying loyalty and gratitude, which is something that normally can only be bought with food Next chapter: Kage attempts to deliver its message and the travelers find out more about the world they have arrived in. Some more original characters make their appearance, too.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the homework I blew off to write this

-

It was part of Sakura's nature to want to befriend everyone she met, and Kage was no exception. However, her efforts toward achieving this goal were hampered by the shadow's sudden reluctance to talk. She tried to ask it a few more questions but was answered only with "Please, I will tell you more later."

Syaoran also attempted to ask their ghostly guide for more information, and while he was polite and good-natured, his motivation was not friendship. As an archaeologist, he was curious about the world they were in and the way the people here lived – were smoke-servants like Kage common? Who lived in this forest? How did they cope with the dangers of their environment? As a warrior, he wanted to be as well-informed as possible before entering the next battle, especially if what Kage had told Sakura was true.

_The people that live in this forest will kill you if they find you here. Please, we need to leave this place before they discover your presence – and they have all manner of spells to detect intruders. My master's magic can only hide you for so long._

The words had scared him more than he cared to admit. He had hesitated for only a second, measuring the risk of staying lost in an enchanted forest against the risk of following a strange being to an unknown location. The choice seemed obvious, and he only wished Kage would tell him more about where they were. He made up for this lack of information by surveying the land around them intensely.

A light breeze was blowing, playfully ruffling the leaves overhead and causing the pattern of shadows and early morning sunlight to dance over the travelers. This had a decidedly odd effect on the servant, making it seem as though the creature were only half there, or that it kept changing shape.

It seemed so peaceful that, had he stopped reminding himself of the danger, he would have found it rather soothing. Given the chaos of the last world they'd been in and all the fighting and walking in this one, it had been hours since they'd had a chance to rest. He shifted his attention to the girl walking in front of him rather than think about how nice it would be to lie down under one of those trees and take a nap. She was probably exhausted, but she walked without complaint, and he was as proud of her as he was worried about her.

"Oh!" Sakura gasped, pulling her hand back. She had reached out to push a plant out of the way, failing to notice its thorns.

"Sakura-hime, are you alright?" Syaoran asked, overly concerned.

She turned back to face him, her smile dazzling. "Yes, I just pricked myself. See? It's not even bleeding." She held out her hand for him to examine.

He took it lightly by the wrist and examined it. She really was okay, and he was starting to feel foolish for over reacting. And he was still holding her hand. Feeling more foolish by the second, he let go and tried not to blush. "Maybe I should walk in front of you, Sakura-hime."

"That's alright Syaoran-kun," she shook her head and laughed melodiously. "I like being the leader."

He smiled at her but couldn't completely hide the worry from his eyes. She knew that she wasn't meant to see it, though, and pretended that she hadn't noticed. She was confused by his concern – she had just pricked her fingers, it wasn't that big of a deal – and more confused by the guilt she felt about making him worry. Then she thought that if he knew she felt guilty on his account, _he_ would feel guilty, and the thought of making him feel guilty made her feel even more guilty...She was so lost she didn't even attempt make sense of her tangled thoughts. She gave herself something else to think about by turning to the shadow and asking, "Excuse me, Kage-san, but how far are we from the edge of the forest?"

The shadow looked around on all sides before answering. "Oh, quite far away, but that isn't a problem. We just have to get to the river."

Thinking that the river would provide a pleasant change of scenery, she ran to catch up with Kage. "Let's move along, then!" she said with a laugh.

Syaoran walked more slowly to meet them. "Why isn't that a problem? What's so special about the river?"

"There's a transport spell there, waiting for us," the servant replied.

"Oh?" Kurogane asked, surprising Syaoran, who thought he had stopped paying attention to the shadow hours ago. "You've decided to answer questions again." This was something close to an accusation.

"We're nearly out of the woods," the shadow said, almost apologetically, "And my master would prefer that I deliver my message to you before you leave. My instructions were to tell you as soon as possible, preferably before the time of your departure. Of course, I was also supposed to keep anyone else from hearing it, so that poses some difficulties."

"So tell us already," Kurogane said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "In as few words as possible, unless your _instructions_ are to bore us all to death by talking too much."

Mokona leapt from his perch on Fai's shoulder and landed on Kurogane's head. "Kuro-woof, don't interrupt with your meanie comments while Kage-san is talking," he said, doing his best to sound important and dignified. The effect was spoilt somewhat by the jumping and dodging he had to do to avoid the ninja's wrath.

"How to begin...?" Kage mused, unconcerned by the death threats Mokona was receiving from Kurogane. "My master had a vision of your arrival and, wishing to keep you from falling into enemy hands, sent me here to guide you out of the forest. I have told you this before, though."

Kurogane ignored Mokona for long enough to glare at the servant. He had decided that things would go more smoothly if he didn't interrupt, but he had to grit his teeth to stop himself.

"Well, to continue: the thing you seek is in this world. My master offers you what aid is possible and necessary to recover that item."

"Hey, manjuu," Kurogane turned his attention back to Mokona, but this time not wrathfully. "Is that true? Is there are feather here?"

Mokona scrunched up his face so everyone would know just how hard it was thinking. "Mokona doesn't know," he said a little sadly. "There's so much magic here, Mokona hardly knows who Mokona is."

Wishing _he_ didn't know who Mokona was, Kurogane snapped, "Then what are you good for, idiot?"

Sakura sent some positive energy in Mokona's direction. "It's okay, Moko-chan, we know you're doing your best."

"I assure you, the feather is in this world. When my master's enemies discover that you are here to reclaim it, they will come after you and destroy you. That is why my master wants you to leave the forest before they find you."

"What about the spells you mentioned? The ones to detect intruders?" Syaoran asked, masking his nervousness with curiosity.

"Well, it's difficult to say," the shadow began, then paused for so long that the boy feared it had lost its voice. Suddenly it shook its head and continued, not realizing it had ever stopped. "My master cast a spell of concealment to keep you hidden, but there's so many factors – distance, time, motion, that sort of thing – so there's no way of telling when the spell will wear off. You're probably alright for now."

Unfortunately, the shadow was a relatively simple creature and, as such, knew little of the inherent irony of life. It wasn't aware that proclaiming something to be alright was the best way to ensure that things would go wrong. This would have been an excellent learning experience for Kage, if Kage had survived it.

There was a piercing whistle and movement almost too fast for the eye to follow. Kage looked down at its torso and the three glass arrows that were sticking out of it. "Oh," is said blandly, before remembering its duty and telling the travelers, "Leave the forest, follow the river, don't..." It never got a chance to finish its message because the arrows exploded. Kage lost its form and became a cloud of smoke that was blown away in the sudden fierce wind.

Kurogane whirled around to face the direction that both the arrows and the wind had come from. There was nothing there at first, but the wind lessened slowly until it died away, leaving behind two men who looked nearly as intimidating as the ninja.

"Well look at this," the older of the two said. "A bunch of peasants in the middle of the forest! How did you scum get here?"

The younger didn't care to wait for an answer. "Does it matter? We know how they're going to leave." He smiled savagely as he drew his sword and charged at Kurogane.

The ninja blocked the attack easily, marveling at this man's stupidity. He was hardly even a man, probably a few years older than Syaoran, and yet he thought he could beat Kurogane. The ninja launched a furious counter attack to show him the error of his ways.

-

The older man was less reckless and more experienced in fighting. He held a longbow in his left hand, but had no arrows. Instead, when he drew the bow, an arrow appeared there, and Fai saw it was not made of glass, but ice. The archer said a single word, quietly, then let fly the arrow. Fai dodged, but the arrow followed him. Eyes wide, he managed to raise his staff to block it, and the arrow shattered into a thousand crystalline fragments.

Syaoran glanced from one battle to the next. Kurogane seemed to be handling things well – his opponent could barely block his attacks and seemed to have given up on the idea of counterattacking. Fai's archer, on the other hand, was shooting a continuous stream of arrows, much faster than Syaoran would have thought possible. As Syaoran watched, hesitating, the archer made his decision for him by turning his attention to the princess.

"Sakura-hime!" Syaoran shouted, leaping to her rescue. He cut down the arrows meant for her, than glanced over his shoulder. "Please, be careful. Hide somewhere!" Sakura nodded and ran into the trees. She whispered "You be careful too, Syaoran-kun," but he did not hear her.

The boy shattered arrows for what seemed like an eternity. The arrows did not travel in a straight line from bow to target but weaved and ducked maddeningly. Syaoran was soon out of breath and covered in scratches, but he hardly noticed these inconveniences. His mind was too busy thinking of a plan.

-

Kurogane could practically taste victory. The kid had been an idiot to attack him, had been so eager for a fight that he had drastically underestimated his opponent. He was already beginning to regret that, and his movements became slower and feebler. He was bleeding heavily from a gash on his left arm. Really, there was nothing for him to smile about – so why was he? Kurogane didn't like it. Either he was trying to psych out his opponent, or he knew something the ninja didn't.

Apparently it was the latter. The kid started mumbling words that Kurogane couldn't hear but knew meant trouble. He fought more fiercely than before, but it made no difference – the kid finished his chant and stomped.

It felt as though Kurogane had been kicked in the chest by a horse. He flew back a few feet and collided painfully with a tree. He scrambled back to his feet, too breathless to curse, and glanced at his opponent. The brat was clinging to a tree for support and laughing. Before Kurogane could figure out what had sent him flying, Fai cried out, "Kuro-tan! Behind you!"

The ninja glanced behind him and saw that the trees were moving, attempting to swat him with their branches. He dodged just in time, thanks to Fai's warning. "Damn it." His sword would be little use blocking those thick limbs. He ducked again before looking at the brat, who was casting a healing spell on his torn up left arm, grinning maniacally. Kurogane figured that it was just his luck to find the one person in all the dimensions with a more obnoxious smile than Fai.

-

Since the archer had turned part of his attention to Syaoran, Fai could afford to keep an eye on Kurogane's fight. When the kid had cast the spell that moved the trees, Fai thought he noticed something. It wasn't until he cast the healing spell that the wizard could detect exactly where it was coming from.

"Kuro-pon!" he called again. The ninja glared at him scathingly for a moment but realized that Fai was serious. The wizard raised a hand to his neck. Kurogane looked from him to the opponent and back again. This time he had seen it, and realization showed on his face before he returned his attention back to his war with the trees.

Fai had forgotten his own battle for too long, however, and an arrow pierced his side. He closed his eyes for a moment to stop from screaming, then ran back into the trees. He met Sakura, who had taken shelter in the trees as well. She gasped when she saw him.

"Fai-san, are you alright?" she cried.

Trying not to scare her, he gave her his most convincing smile and replied, "Don't worry about me, Sakura-chan. It's not that bad a wound!"

It was fairly serious, but that wasn't what worried Fai. He remembered how the arrows that destroyed Kage had exploded, and he had not intention of letting this happen to him. He grasped the arrow and pulled it out, shutting his eyes tight against the pain. Just to be careful he snapped it in half and threw it as far away as he could.

-

The archer didn't bother to chase Fai, deciding to finish Syaoran first. This was proving to be a bit harder than he had anticipated, though; the boy kept advancing and he had to retreat to keep his distance. It unnerved him how this young swordsman seemed oblivious to his scrapes and weariness. If he had been less confident in his fighting skills, the archer would have been worried by the look of pure determination on the boy's face. Instead, he ignored it and kept shooting arrows that came from no where and were destroyed before they got anywhere.

Suddenly, Syaoran broke into a run. The archer breathed a spell that turned his bow into metal. This rendered it useless for shooting, or course, but gave him a weapon with which to block Hein. He hadn't anticipated Syaoran's second attack, though, and stumbled back after the boy kicked him in the head. Without wasting a moment, Syaoran launched a third attack that ended with Hein pointing at the archer's throat.

-

Kurogane had a much harder time getting close to his opponent. Just as he managed to advance, a branch would move to block his way or knock him back. Nearing the end of his patience, he called out "Hama Ryuojin!" and his attack decimated the trees around him. What was left of the trees recoiled and left him a clear path to his opponent. He ran forward in a second and the brat didn't even have time to block. He was still grinning triumphantly when Kurogane slammed Souhi's hilt into his head.

The young man fell to the ground unconscious. Kurogane knelt over him and grabbed the chain that hung around his neck. The chain snapped and Kurogane held it up. It didn't look like much, really, it was just a small bird carved out of wood. He broke that and breathed a sign of relief when the trees around him returned to their normal sedentary habits.

-

It was Syaoran's intention to question the man, but his prisoner didn't know that. He stared, faintly horrified, at the sword pressed against his throat and the boy he thought would soon be his murderer. When he felt that his ally's necklace had been destroyed, he said one last spell and the two of them disappeared.

Syaoran looked around frantically, but the men really were gone. He leaned against a tree for a moment to catch his breath and then called out "Sakura-hime! Where are you?"

"Over here!" she called, and he and Kurogane followed the sound of her voice, past ruined trees and pieces of ice. They found her kneeling by Fai, pressing her jacket to his bleeding side. "He got hit by an arrow," she explained tearfully.

Syaoran gazed down at them, numb. He hadn't even noticed when Fai dropped out of the battle. Images came to him of all the other things that could have happened without him noticing. "Are you alright?" he asked, trying not to sound relieved that this was all that had happened.

Fai laughed and tried to sit up straighter. "I'm fine. Sakura-chan is just fussing," he said. Syaoran wasn't entirely convinced but nodded quietly.

Kurogane wasn't convinced at all but made no comment. Instead, he threw the remains of the necklace at Fai and gruffly asked, "What's this?" If the blond was too dumb to worry about himself, Kurogane certainly wasn't going to do it for him.

"It's a charm to strengthen magic," he explained slowly. He put the pieces together and examined them while his mind attempted to do the same with the day's events. "My guess is that man is a very poor magician, and this gave him what power he had. When you broke this, he couldn't maintain his spell on the trees."

Kurogane grunted noncommittally. He wanted to ask Fai how he knew all this, but after their last conversation he knew it wouldn't do any good. So he pretended to accept, as the teens did, that Fai simply knew these things – never mind that no amount of intuition could have told Fai, at a distance and in the middle of a battle, that a small pendant was the source of his opponent's magic. He changed the subject, deciding to mention this again some other day. "What now?"

Sakura bit her lip and spoke quietly, thinking out loud. "We ought to take care of Fai-san first, and then we need to leave the forest."

Syaoran nodded, uncertain, and Kurogane voiced their shared doubts. "We don't know how. That damn guide is gone, we don't know where we are, and we don't know anything about our supposed ally the magician."

Sakura looked around her while trying to think of some solution. It hardly seemed possible that a battle had just taken place here. Everything was so quiet and peaceful. The princess drank in the silence. Their situation hardly seemed like a problem anymore. Really, how hard could it be for four people to find their way out of a forest?

She almost smiled until her mind fully processed that last though. FOUR people?

"Wait, where's Moko-chan?"

-

A/N: yay, got chapter 2 done! It really got away from me and turned out to be different from the chapter I originally had in mind. That's the way my writing has always been, though – I plan one thing and end up with something else. If I'm lucky, the end produce resembles my intended story. Maybe everyone is like this and I just don't know it. I think this turned out well, even if it's not what I had in mind, but I'm nervous about it too. I didn't realize it would be so hard to write a fight scene! Please let me know how you think it turned out and share any advice or constructive criticism you have.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I used to own Tsubasa, but lost it to CLAMP in a poker game ;)

-

The travelers exchanged nervous glances, trying to remember when they had last seen their rotund companion. They half-hoped that he would leap from some hiding place with an energetic greeting, but no such luck. It seemed Mokona really was missing.

Well, that explained the unnatural silence, anyway.

The way her question hung in the air made Sakura feel sick - no answer was definitely a bad answer. She drew her hands back to her sides and clenched them into fists without realizing it. She suddenly had to _move_, to try to dispel her worry. Standing and walking back to the spot they had been ambushed, she called "Moko-chan! Moko-chan, where are you?"

Syaoran jumped when Sakura was out of sight. There was no way he was going to let her get lost in the forest, too, so he ran to catch up to her. "Sakura-hime!" he called.

"Hm?" she looked over her shoulder with her distracted green eyes.

Staring at her, the boy found himself temporarily at a loss for words. Still, this was important, so he dragged himself out of daydreams and scolded her gently. "Don't go off by yourself, Sakura-hime, it's too dangerous here. Wait for me, please."

She looked at the ground and said quietly, "Okay, Syaoran-kun. I won't leave you again." Well, _that_ hadn't come out the way she meant it too. Determined to hide the blush that accompanied her ill-chosen words, she turned around and resumed walking and calling for Mokona, this time with her protector one step behind her.

Fai pressed one hand to his side and attempted to pull himself up with the other. He succeeded, leaning against a tree, and snuck a glance at Kurogane. Was that _concern_ in the ninja's face? That wouldn't do. In his lightest, most mischievous voice, he asked "You didn't kill Mokona, did you Kuro-myuu?"

This caught him by surprise, and he yelled, "Don't be stupid!"

Fai's smile – which was really more of a smirk – just pissed him off more, but after a moment of fuming he let it go. There were, at the moment, more important things than his desire to throttle the mage. He sighed "Come on. We have to find that damn manjuu."

Fai nodded, letting no sign of doubt show on his face. He waited until Kurogane had started after the kids before experimenting. If he let go of the tree, could he still stand? It turned out he could, and this gave him the confidence to try walking. He stumbled a few times and found it wasn't that bad if he looked down carefully and used trees to support himself when possible.

Walking slowly, the blond finally caught up with the others. They had stopped in the clearing Kurogane had made when he blasted the trees. Sakura was pacing the edge of clearing, calling for Mokona, while Syaoran hovered protectively nearby. Kurogane just glared at the world in general, then turned and directed his glare at Fai. Sakura also turned her attention toward the magician, but in a less hostile manner. "Fai-san, are you really okay?"

He lied with his most charming smile. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. Mokona's really more important now."

Sakura nodded and frowned, biting her thumb nail. "But ... He's not here. I thought maybe ... when the fight started, he hid. But apparently he didn't, or at least not here."

"We know he's not too far away," Syaoran said, "because we can still understand each other."

The princess cheered up slightly. She was still afraid, true, but she was also stubbornly determined not to give into that fear. "Well then," she continued brightly, "How do we find him?"

Fai laughed internally. "Oh, that shouldn't be too hard. We just have to figure out where Mokona went."

Kurogane's glare intensified. "And how do we do that, idiot?"

Fai silently thanked Kurogane for playing along. "You just have to think like Mokona, which should be easy for you, since you two are so much alike. If you were Mokona, Kuro-pyon, where would you – " He dodged the ninja's attack with little trouble but was laughing too hard to continue.

"Fai-san has a point," Syaoran said.

"Huh?" That was news to Kurogane, who thought Fai had just been messing with him, and to Fai, who thought he had just been messing with Kurogane. "What do you mean, Syaoran-kun?" the magician asked.

"Well, Mokona's too smart to have just wandered off - "

"Since when?" Kurogane muttered, earning him a smack from Fai. "What the hell was that for?"

"Insulting you friends is bad, and bad puppies need to be disciplined!"

Syaoran didn't give Kurogane a chance to respond – which is just as well, given what the response would have been. He just continued, "So Mokona must have gone somewhere for a reason, and all we have to do is figure out where he would have gone, then we can find him." The boy gulped nervously, too afraid to mention the possibility his plan wouldn't help them with – if Mokona had not gone somewhere on his own free will but had been taken.

From the expression on Sakura and Kurogane's faces, they had thought the same thing and decided not to mention it. There wasn't really much they could do if Mokona had been captured, so they focused on the prospect they could do something about.

"Well..." Sakura began, blushing as her friends' eyes turned toward her expectantly. "Kage-san told us to follow the river, so if Mokona got separated from us, he might have assumed we'd head for the river and gone there to meet us."

The boys mulled over this theory and decided it was sound. "So! To the river it is," Fai sang. It was his responsibility to add some levity to the situation – everyone knows that too much stress is a very dangerous thing. He thought about dancing about but decided that, in his condition, this would be a very poor choice, so he settled for speaking cheerfully.

The travelers walked quickly, hoping to get out of the forest as soon as possible, as Fai found himself struggling to keep up. He was tired, but he sure as hell wasn't going to ask for them to stop. If they delayed...something could happen to the kids...or Mokona...no, something had already happened to Mokona, right? The blond cursed himself and tried to think more clearly. If only he weren't so tired. He just wanted to lie down for a minute...

_NO._ He had to focus, had to be strong.

Fai was so concentrated on walking quickly and not letting his mind cloud over that he shut out everything else lost track of his surroundings. He only returned to the present when Kurogane stopped suddenly and he walked into him.

"Watch it," the ninja snapped.

"Ah! Sorry Kuro-pii," Fai waved his hands dismissively. "Why are we stopping, anyway?"

Kurogane gave the mage his customary "what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-anyway?" glance and gestured to the trail ahead of them.

Their current trail crossed a much larger path. The teens were standing on the new trail – it was more of a road, really – trying not to look nervous.

"Now what?" Fai asked.

Syaoran looked down the road one way and then the next. He could have saved himself the trouble and just looked one way; the views were identical. The road was wide but overgrown and gave no clue as to which way their friend might have gone, if he had even taken the road and not simply continued down the original path. Assuming he had even come this way, and that they hadn't been walking further and further – better not to think like that, Syaoran reminded himself hurriedly. We can all still understand each other, so there's no need to be negatively.

Sakura went through an almost identical thought process but came to a different conclusion. She hesitated, not wanting to share her idea, but as hard as she tried, she couldn't seem to come up with an alternative. Speaking very quietly, she suggested, "Maybe we should split up?"

"No!" Syaoran answered forcefully, then blushed and continued more calmly. "It's too dangerous, Sakura-hime. We can't risk losing each other, too."

"But it wouldn't have to be for very long. If two of us go that way, and the other two go that way –" She pointed in the respective directions – "We would just have to walk until one group couldn't communicate anymore. Then they'd know they were going the wrong way, and they could catch up with the others."

"But we'd be in trouble if we got attacked, or if the road split again. Forget it princess, the kid's right." Syaoran silently thanked Kurogane for his support.

"It isn't necessary, anyway," Fai said soothingly, as though apologizing to Sakura for disagreeing with her.

Kurogane had temporarily forgotten about the mage (an indication of just how much the forest was getting on his nerves. It wasn't everyday that he found something more irritating than the wizard, thank God.) He turned to see Fai perched in a tree with arms hanging down by his sides and his eyes closed. "What are you talking about?" he demanded. "Can't you make sense for once?"

"I could, if I wanted too," Fai replied without opening his eyes. "But that's just so boring. And I'm too busy listening to try to make sense, anyway."

"You're what?"

"Listening. I can teach you how to do it, Ku –"

"I know how to listen! You're the one who nerve shuts his damn mouth!"

Fai tsked. "Really, Kuro-daddy, you set such a bad example for the children. Now hush."

Reason was clearly useless. Kurogane listened attentively for a moment, and just when he was sure Fai was pulling his leg, he heard it – a faint and distant rumbling like thunder. He tilted his head to the side and decided it was coming from the left.

"Oooo!" Sakura exclaimed. "That's the river, isn't it?"

"Sounds like it," Fai replied smugly.

"Let's follow it, then," Syaoran said, easing on down the road with Sakura following close behind. She made him nervous ever under the best of circumstances, but now he was going insane. His normal fear of having her close by was combined with the fear that she would disappear.

The princess stared at the archaeologist's back. He walks so quickly, she thought. I know he's just trying to find Moko-chan before something happens, but sometimes it feels like he's running away. Why do I have to chase him?

She glanced down. Syaoran had one hand on Hien's hilt, ready to fight should the need arise. Still, safety didn't require solitude. She breathed deeply and skipped forward a bit to catch up with him; then, before she had a chance to rethink things, she took his free hand lightly in hers. He looked at her, shocked, and she blushed and looked away.

This is much too close, he thought, images of the castle and an enraged king flittering through his mind, but he didn't let go.

-

Kurogane waited while Syaoran walked away and Sakura followed. The teens were soon out of earshot, and Kurogane continued to wait. Although Fai and Mokona's teasing indicated the opposite, Kurogane could be very patient. A man does not sit on rooftops all night waiting for assassins without learning a thing or two about patience. If they weren't in hostile territory and he didn't have to worry about the kids, he would have no problem standing there for hours, just to prove he could outlast Fai in whatever ridiculous game the mage was playing now.

There were in hostile territory, though, and they had to follow the kids. Since Fai seemed content to rest in his tree all day, Kurogane made the first move. "Are you coming or not?"

"I haven't decided," Fai answered, opening his eyes like someone waking up from a dream and staring into the expanse of leaves over his head. "I like it here. This is such a friendly tree."

"Too bad. Say goodbye and then let's go."

Fai tapped the side of his face with one finger while Kurogane marveled slightly that he didn't lose balance. "You go on ahead and I'll catch up." The ninja raised an eyebrow in silent inquiry and Fai laughed, looking down at him then back up at the small patches of sky that could be seen through the trees. "I think I'll become a bird and fly to you."

He's in one of his moods, Kurogane thought resignedly. Of course, he's always in _a_ mood. Maybe it'd be more accurate to say he's in _this_ mood. Recognizing the futility of interrupting, the ninja simply let him continue his musings.

"Didn't you ever want to fly, Kuro-tan? No, you're probably too practical. You don't have that kind of romantic imagination. You've probably never looked at the sky and dreamed of going there, where everything else is so small and insignificant and far away..."

Fai raised a hand to his forehead and snapped out of it. He felt dizzy and not quite in control of himself, as though he were awakening from under some kind of enchantment. He was much more tired than he knew. "Oh dear, the children are getting away," he said in his "I'm-a-fussy-busybody-mother" voice. "Guess we'd better go after them, Kuro-rin."

"You have to come down first."

The mage considered the truth in this statement. He quite obviously could not follow the kids and stay in the tree. But it wouldn't be any fun to just climb down now and start walking.

"I can't," he said as pathetically as he could. "I'm like a little cat that climbs up but can't climb back down. You have to rescue me."

"What the hell? You got up there, you get yourself back down."

"But I can't," Fai whined. Kurogane was unaffected by this, so he decided to switch tactics. "If I jump, will you catch me?"

"No way, you – " But Kurogane didn't have time to finish his objection. He had to dive to catch the blonde a few feet from the ground. "Idiot," he growled. "Don't just jump, you could have hurt yourself."

"No I wouldn't have. I knew you'd catch me," Fai replied.

Kurogane rolled his eyes but wasn't crazy enough to try and continue this discussion. He turned and followed Syaoran and Sakura without another word. They were quite far away, but he didn't rush to catch up. The road was straight, so he wouldn't lose sight of them. For now, he thought he'd give them some time alone. It looked liked they were "having a moment." Not that he cared what they got up to. It was simply that he sure as hell didn't want to be near those sappy love-struck teens holding hands and avoiding eye contact. It was always like that with those two, anyway, secret glances when the other isn't looking, thinly veiled concern, the slight disappointment that followed each "-kun" and "-hime"... It was enough to make a man sick, really.

Fai squirmed and drew his attention back to the present. "Um, Kuro-rinta, are you going to let me down anytime soon?"

Kurogane almost smirked when he heard Fai's confusion. Usually Fai baffled him, and it was nice to switch the situation for once. "No," he answered, "because this way you can't go running off or cause any trouble, and I don't have to wait for you while you walk slowly."

Of course he noticed you were having trouble walking, Fai chided himself. You should know by now that you can't hide anything from Kuro-pon.

Attacked on both sides by Kurogane and himself, Fai did what he always did when on defense – he smiled.

"Awwww, Kuro-wanwan is worried about me!" he said and threw his arms around the ninja's neck. "How sweet!"

"Knock if off, stupid mage!" Kurogane yelled, his concern apparently vanished.

Fai chuckled but drew his arms away from Kurogane. He wanted to tease the ninja some more, but the time for fun and games was over. He'd run out of strength long ago and could no longer even keep his eyes open. He wasn't fooling anyone anyway, so he might as well stop trying.

Kurogane glanced down in surprise. Was this another trick? He listened to the mage's breathing for a moment and decided it wasn't. Fai really had fallen asleep.

Just how much blood has he lost, anyway? The wizard was wrapped up in his extravagantly fluffy coat, so Kurogane couldn't see his wound. There wasn't time to stop and examine it now, since the kids were still way ahead of him. It would have to wait until they got to the river.

At least that wouldn't be much farther. He decided to just focus on getting there and worry about anything else later.

-

Syaoran felt rather sheepish about his worrying when the rest of the journey passed without incident. It was fairly simple; all they had to do was follow the sound of running water as it reached a crescendo. Syaoran was rather surprised at how loud it got, though. He was beginning to wonder if it was the river after all when he pushed aside a bit of shrubbery and nearly fell into a pool at the base of a waterfall.

Oh. That explained the volume, anyway. He knew the noise had been too loud to have come just from a river.

His father had once taken him to a giant waterfall that was hundreds of feet tall (apparently, tourists came in droves to ride down it in barrels; Syaoran reflected that there are all kinds of people in the world). This wasn't much by comparison; any tourist that came here for a ride would be severely disappointed. It wasn't very large, and it didn't plunge straight down, either, but cascaded down a series of rock steps. Still, it was a welcome sight after the monotony of the forest flora.

He sensed rather than heard Sakura's gasp. She stood amazed by the sight in front of her, less prepared for it than Syaoran was; having lived in a desert for most of her life, she maintained a very understandable fascination with water. She had never seen a waterfall before. One maddeningly hot Clow afternoon, Syaoran had told her about the waterfalls, oceans, and glaciers he had seen on his travels or read about, but as far as Sakura was concerned this conversation had never happened at all.

So she simply gazed at it with wonder and delight, a wide smile spread across her face. Syaoran's more jaded eyes were drawn from the waterfall to the princess – only one of them had the power to take his breath away.

-

Kurogane saw the kids' reactions and would have buried his face in his hands, if he hadn't been using them for something else. So it's a bunch of vertical water. So what? The important thing was to find the manjuu bun. Presumably he wasn't far away and Kurogane started to scan the surrounding area.

They were in a large clearing with the river running down the middle. The near end was occupied by the waterfall, and on the other...

The ninja's first impulse was to grab his sword, but he resisted. The small wood building could be something perfectly innocent, like...well, he couldn't think of anything innocent it could be. Kurogane prided himself on being a suspicious ninja. The ninja who wasn't suspicious didn't get much of a chance to learn the error of his ways.

"Hey, kid," Kurogane growled. Don't know why I bothered, he thought with an inward sigh. From the way the kid's staring at the princess, he wouldn't have heard me even if there weren't so much noise.

The man walked closer to Syaoran and nudged him with an elbow. The boy jumped a little and turned to face his mentor, trying to hide his embarrassment. The man ignored his blush and simply nodded in the direction of the building.

Syaoran blinked. Had he really missed that? What was it, anyway? The door had some sort of symbol carved on it, but he couldn't tell what it was and he automatically took a few steps closer.

Kurogane rolled his eyes. The kid really was clueless. He elbowed him again, a little more forcefully, and when Syaoran looked over his shoulder he shouted "YOUR SWORD!"

The teenager might not have heard the actual words, but he realized the meaning after a moment's contemplation. He nodded and continued toward the small building, one hand on Hien's hilt.

Sakura, concerned, started to follow him but caught Kurogane's eye. She stopped obediently but felt uneasy and tried to deal with this by fussing over Fai.

Syaoran reached the building. The symbol on the door meant nothing to him, but it looked like some sort of writing. He walked cautiously around to the side and stared for a minute then, as Kurogane and Sakura held their breaths, he walked back around to the front and pulled the door open. He walked through it and disappeared for a very tense moment before sticking his head out and waving them to come.

They proceeded cautiously, just in case, but there was no need; the building was empty. Kurogane was expecting traps, soldiers, some threat, but instead he found a rather empty one room cabin with large windows in the side walls. The view out them wasn't much; that is to say, it was the same view, more or less, that they had seen for hours. The light over the scene was quiet though, and Kurogane knew that sunset wouldn't be far off.

With his first glance at the room, he took note of the murals, a large statue opposite the door, and a low table in the middle of the room. That was really all there was to see, but it was enough. The table had two lit candles and others sat innocently, wicks untouched by flame. There was a small stick of incense burning as well, but far more interesting to Kurogane was the food that took up the rest of the table. There were plates of bread, cheese, fruits, and some cold meats.

It was all much too convenient. They were lost in a treacherous forest, hungry and tired, and it would be night soon, meaning (if he remembered what the shadow person had said correctly) more snake-lizard-wolf things were likely to attack. If the forest dwellers didn't beat them to it. And yet they happened to find this place.

Someone knew they would be here.

"What is this place?" the princess asked in a hushed voice. This far from the waterfall, the roaring had subsided to a whisper, and they could once again communicate.

Kurogane was inclined to shrug off the obvious question with the obvious answer of "How the hell would I know?," but Syaoran answered first.

"I think it's some sort of temple." He pointed to the statue in the corner. It was a large panther that had, between her front paws, a small group of people. "If you look around at the walls," he said, "The panther appears multiple times. Here she's sheltering three children, here she's attacking a castle, although she's as large as it is. Of course in the statue she's much larger than the people below her...She might be a local goddess here, and these murals are illustrations of myths about here." Something caught his eye; the people by the statue of the panther were in a _nest_, of all things! He examined the paintings closer to try and discover if birds had any role in this dimension's lore.

"Wonderful," Kurogane muttered. "This would be the perfect place if I felt the urge to pray." The reasonable part of his brain told him this was not the time for bad-tempered sarcasm. The less reasonable part replied that there was _always_ time for sarcasm, but shut up anyway.

Someone had provided marginal shelter from the wilderness. He didn't know why, but he was going to take advantage of the relative safety. He placed Fai carefully on the floor and removed his coat. "Kid. If you're done playing detective, it's time to play doctor," he said as he removed Fai's fluffy white coat. His voice was neutral even as he saw how much blood had stained it and the clothing underneath.

Sakura squared her shoulders and breathed deeply. She wasn't going to be freaked out by the blood, or the thought of Fai suffering quietly. "What can I do to help?" she asked, her voice as steady as Kurogane's.

The ninja only half heard her because his mind was busy thinking of a thousand insults for mages who were too stupid to let anyone know how badly injured they were or even get decent bandages, carefully monitoring his emotions (he didn't want to let the kid's know he was worried), and carefully trying to remember something useful. Warriors learn a lot about treating injuries; surviving the battle did not guarantee one would leave the battlefield alive. Unfortunately, he'd always been more interested in inflicting injuries than treating them.

"Anything here for carrying water?" he asked, not expecting much. The building was pretty empty, if you didn't count artwork, which was just a lot of pretty nonsense.

"There's a pot outside," Syaoran volunteered. The ninja turned his ferociously concentrated gaze at the boy, so he volunteered some more. "It looks like someone had a campfire behind the cabin and was cooking over it."

More convenient good news, Kurogane thought bitterly. "Get some water and start a fire," he said aloud. The teens scrambled outside, Sakura taking one of the lit candles with her.

Kurogane observed his patient. Fai's breathing and pulse were faint, but not alarmingly so. It didn't seem that the arrow had hit anything too important, but he would have to look closer once the area was cleaned. He took the fluffy coat – who wore white when there was such a high probability of being attacked? The stain of blood was never going to go away – and wadded it up over the wound, carefully applying pressure. With luck, all Fai would need was a bandage, some stitches, and some time to recover.

Well, all he needs for his wound, Kurogane amended his previous thought quickly. He needs other things, too, like a ton of common sense and a mute button.

The door opened with a small creak and the noise from the waterfall grew slightly louder until it shut.

"Here, kid, do you have the water?" he asked without looking up.

There was a short but significant silence before he heard the hiss of a sword being drawn from its sheath.

"I'm sorry, I think you have us confused with someone else," said an unfamiliar voice.

-

Mokona's Note: HIII, everyone! Mokona was very depressed about not being in this chapter, so Shine said Mokona could do the author's note! She asked me to tell you that she is very sorry that this chapter is so late; she says that she had a lot of end-of-the-school-year-homework followed by a lot of job related stress, neither of which was conducive to dealing with the two bouts of writer's block this chapter gave her. Still, she hopes that you forgive her and like this chapter! She worries that it doesn't flow well, so feedback and advice would be appreciated. Also, it is her birthday tomorrow...today...July 4th, so if you want to give her a reviews wrapped up in a bow, that would be most welcome!

In the near future: new characters!!! Kuro-pon makes people angry!!! Some familiar faces, maybe? And will yours truly return? You'll see in chapter four!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: the series is not mine, although it would be a huge compliment if someone did in fact confuse me with CLAMP.

-

_Oh shit._

Kurogane looked up and found a sword point in his face. Behind the sword was a young woman with fiery red hair and very tan skin, and behind her was the man who had spoken. The ninja looked at him before temporarily dismissing him on the basis that the woman was more of a threat.

"Don't move," she said, noticing how his hand twitched toward Souhi's hilt.

He glared at the swordswoman but kept his hands where they were. He could probably defeat her, but he hated to challenge fighters he knew nothing about – if he knew nothing about them there was always a chance they were very good. Besides, he had the wizard to defend. The strangers had the advantage for now, but that would change if Syaoran joined them. (The ninja took a moment to wonder where the kid was, anyway, and what was taking him so long.)

"Akane, is that really necessary?" the man asked. He was tall and skinny, with light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and a friendly voice. "I'm sure we could just talk with this gentleman."

"This 'gentleman' is a warrior," the swordswoman said without looking at the man behind her. She held the sword steady and returned Kurogane's glare. "I just want to make sure _all_ he does is talk."

"Yes, well – " the man coughed nervously and adjusted his glasses.

"Don't forget where we are," Akane warned him.

The man nodded then, realizing the gesture was lost on someone who couldn't see him, added "Of course."

"Warrior-san," Akane snapped. "What are you doing in Yuna's temple?"

Kurogane didn't answer – he wasn't going to explain about missing companions or battles with mages, not to some woman who was probably an enemy. She was hardly even a woman; he studied her more carefully, looking for clues or weaknesses, and guessed she was a year or two older than the kids. Her friend looked just a few years older than her, and he did not look like a fighter. Wounded Fai or no, Kurogane was feeling better about his chances of fighting these two.

Akane narrowed her eyes and moved the sword so its point rested on Kurogane's neck. "Talk," she ordered. "Who are you?"

The door opened and three heads turned to see Sakura standing in the doorway, a large pot of water in her hands, her eyes widening with surprise.

Kurogane took advantage of the distraction and drew Souhi while Akane was still confused. She recovered in time to block his attack and counter with one of her own. Their swords clashed again and Kurogane used his greater strength to push Akane backwards. She stumbled but came to her feet quickly. Still, it had been enough time for the ninja to jump over Fai so he wouldn't have to fight across the unconscious mage's body.

Akane lunged and Kurogane dodged, missing her attack by a second. The girl was fast, but she wasn't as strong as the ninja, and he hoped this meant she would have less stamina, too.

She withdrew, eyeing him warily and waiting for an opening he wasn't going to give her. Her sword slashed at him once, twice, three times, testing him. He blocked her, although the last time it was a close thing. She gritted her teeth and stepped forward once more, but didn't get to follow through.

"Akane! Stop this now!"

Kurogane hadn't really thought the nervous-looking man could sound so decisive. He didn't look nervous any more; his eyes were steady and determined. Akane glanced over her shoulder before sighing and lowering her sword. Her opponent kept his position, still ready for an attack.

"What?" she snapped.

The man smiled slightly and shook his head. "You really never listen, do you?"

"That's what I have you for." She returned his smile briefly before looking back at Kurogane and muttering, "This is over for now, but don't get any funny ideas." He lowered his sword slightly, distrustful enough that he didn't sheathe it.

"Don't you recognize this girl?" the man asked, gesturing at Sakura, making the girl wonder if she had a doppelganger in this dimension.

"No," Akane said bluntly. "Should I?"

The man was a little thrown off by this comment and replied slowly, "Well...yes, you should." He then turned to Sakura and bowed. "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Takaki, and this is Akane."

Sakura had a heavy load in her hands and no idea what was going on, but she had been raised to be polite regardless of the circumstances. She bowed, almost losing her balance, and returned the introduction. "My name is Sakura, and these are my friends Kurogane-san and Fai-san."

"Two friends...?" Takaki mused, puzzled. With the battle and Sakura's appearance he had forgotten or simply never noticed the man on the floor. "What happened to him?" he asked, walking forward when he saw Fai. Kurogane stepped forward to block him.

"Stop where you are," the ninja growled.

Takaki looked nervous again. "Please, let me help. I'm a doctor."

"No," Kurogane said firmly. "I don't trust you and I'm sure as hell not letting you get near him."

"Look, this is all just a misun – " Takaki tried walking forward again.

"Don't take another step," Kurogane said, raising Souhi again. Apparently, the stranger hadn't gotten the idea, but Kurogane had always found that a sword and a glare conveyed meaning much better than words.

"Leave him alone!" Akane yelled, stepping between the men and thrusting her sword at Kurogane.

Sakura quickly ran outside while the two resumed their fighting. "Syaoran!" she called as she ran around to the back of the cabin.

"Hm?" the boy looked up from the kindling he was attempting to ignite.

"There's trouble inside," she said as calmly as she could manage. Syaoran could tell how worried she was, so he drew Hien and ran on ahead of her.

Inside, Akane and Kurogane were at it again, swords moving so quickly they were just silver blurs.

"Akane!" Takaki yelled, but this time the woman was not so easily called off.

"He was going to hurt you!" she snarled.

"So? He thinks we're threats to him! Let's try to prove that we aren't!" His words had no effect, so he reached forward, grabbed Akane, and dragged her backwards.

The redhead turned on her companion angrily. "You could lose an arm doing something stupid like that!"

"Right, but you're invincible, and nothing bad will happen to you." He managed to sound sarcastic and polite at the same time.

"That's not the point," she muttered, adding sullenly, "I could beat him." If she heard Kurogane's snort, she ignored it.

"Maybe," Takaki replied. "But now he has reinforcements."

Akane turned to examine the teens. Sakura had followed Syaoran into the cabin despite his best efforts to keep her outside and away from the fighting. The swordswoman had to admit, at least in the privacy of her own mind, that she couldn't fight Kurogane _and_ another warrior, even a young one, at the same time.

Kurogane, meanwhile, had sheathed Souhi (and Syaoran followed his lead). He crossed his arms, looking intimidating without posing a direct threat. He didn't want to provoke the volatile Akane, but he didn't want to appear soft, either.

Takaki continued, in his very mild way, "This is not the time to fight. These people are not our enemies."

"You keep saying that," Kurogane said, narrowing his eyes, "But how do you know? How did you recognize Sakura?"

Takaki looked around at the others and at their surroundings. "I'll explain, but please, can we step outside? I fear we are being disrespectful to Yuna."

Kurogane nearly let his temper get the better of him, but he noticed the expression on Syaoran's face and kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to upset the kid, which would most likely happen if he said something rude. Judging by Akane's suddenly solemn and reverential attitude, it would probably set off another attack, as well.

Syaoran, always respectful of and curious about other cultures, replied diplomatically. "Of course, we'll continue this outside. Please forgive our ignorance." He led the way outside with Takaki and Sakura close behind. Akane blushed slightly then bowed toward the panther statue and traced a circle on her chest with her thumb before following them. Kurogane was last, carrying Fai.

Takaki sat on the grass and gestured for them to follow his example. Akane sat near him, her fiercely protective look spoiled somewhat by the way she kept glancing at the sky. The sun was not visible – it was too low in the sky and was still blocked by trees, even in the clearing – but the brilliant colors in the sky could only mean that it was sunset. The teens sat across from the strangers, forming a loose circle, and Kurogane placed Fai down carefully a short distance before taking a seat next to Syaoran.

"Talk," the ninja growled, sick of delays and distractions.

Takaki coughed, and the nervous expression settled over his features once again. "Very well," he began. "I suppose we should introduce ourselves more formerly. Akane and I are from Losai. That's a village just on the edge of the forest; you may not have heard of it before because it is rather small. Of course, it used to be a place of some importance to merchants and travelers, but since no one really travels through the forest these days – "

"Takaki." The redhead interrupted her companion and he looked at her, confused. "You sound like a school teacher. Get to the point." Kurogane felt his dislike for this woman decrease just the slightest.

"Oh, fine. I suppose you want to know how we - or rather I - recognized you? That's a very simple matter." He paused slightly, as though to silently show his disproval of questions that had easy, short answers and required no historical lecture. "Our priestess told us that you were coming."

Syaoran didn't think that this was quite so simple a matter as Takaki had promised. "How did your priestess – " but the loud redhead talked over him.

"What? These are them?" She didn't notice that she had interrupted Syaoran, and she ignored Takaki's muttered correction "These are _they_." "That's not possible, Takaki. _That one_ – " she shot a glare at Kurogane and was undaunted when he returned it in spades " - profaned the temple and tried to kill you and I don't think he's a very nice person."

"I wasn't trying to kill anyone. I wouldn't have attacked you if you hadn't attacked me first, crazy girl."

"That was _not_ my fault. I was defending myself."

"From what? I was just sitting there."

"But you could have attacked me."

"So, do you attack everyone you meet on the principle that they might be a threat to you later?"

"Of course not; don't be stupid."

"I'm not the one being stupid. You're the psycho who likes to go around stabbing random strangers."

"That's not what I meant. I just meant that you were very suspicious. I didn't even attack you at first, I just tried to stop you from drawing your sword, which you did the first chance you got. Proves that I was right to be careful around you."

"If you were really being careful, you wouldn't have challenged me."

"What's that supposed to mean, you maniac?"

"There's no way you could beat me. You're better off not trying."

"Oh please, spare me the male bravado! I could have beat you if Takaki didn't keep stopping me."

Kurogane rolled his eyes. "You're dreaming, psycho."

Akane drew an outraged breath, but Takaki once again interrupted their sparring. "Stop this idiocy." He turned to Sakura and Syaoran, appealing to them for assistance. "Really, I'm trying to explain. I _am _sorry about the misunderstandings, and the interruptions, but it would just be best if I could proceed now."

Sakura placed a hand gently on Kurogane's arm. "Please, Kurogane-san," she said softly. "This is not a good time to be fighting. We need friends, and we need to hear what Takaki-san has to say."

The ninja sighed, but relented. "Ah, fine. I'm sorry about the 'misunderstandings.'"

Takaki looked significantly at the redhead before she smacked her forehead and muttered, "Me too, sorry about all that." She took her hand away from her face and held it out to Kurogane. "Truce?"

He shook her hand and nodded.

Takaki grinned. "Good. Now before all this, I believe you had a question, ah...Syaoran-san?"

"R...right," the young archaeologist stumbled over his words before remember what it was he had been asking. "How did your priestess know about us, and what did she tell you?"

"She had a vision about you. She wouldn't tell us much about it, but she did say that strangers were going to appear, and she told us to look for you and bring you to her."

"You're sure these are the people she was talking about?" Akane asked with a frown. "I still think they're rather suspicious."

"Well, pretty sure," Takaki said, pleased that the redhead had expressed her doubt with more self control this time. "Sakura-san matches the description. And she said they would come from the forest."

"Maybe – " Akane began, but Takaki interrupted her.

"You don't trust me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. We'll bring them to onee-san tomorrow and let her sort it out. She's good at that sort of thing. I'm going now, okay? It's going to be night soon."

Takaki glanced at the sky, surprised and slightly guilty not to have noticed how late it was. "O-of course," he said. "Um. Good night then?"

The redhead whispered something into his ear before she stood up and walked back to the temple with a small wave at Sakura and Syaoran.

"Now that _she's_ gone," Kurogane said sharply, "Maybe you could tell us more?"

"Hm?" Takaki asked mildly. "Yes, if you'd like. What do you want to know?"

"You could tell us about this priestess of yours."

Takaki took off his glasses and squinted at them before beginning to clean them with a small cloth he produced from one of his pockets. "Well, she serves Yuna, obviously. Sometimes Yuna sends her visions, like the one she had about you, and she prays to Yuna for protection and strength. It's because of her that you can sit there so peacefully. The forest is full of dangerous things – "

"We were starting to notice that ourselves," Kurogane commented drily.

"Yes, I suppose you were," Takaki mused thoughtfully. "But the temple here has Yuna's blessing on it, and it keeps the forest dwellers and their vile spells and creatures away from here. There are a few other havens throughout the forest, so that believers can journey out here in relative safety. Of course, it would still be foolish to travel by oneself through the forest, especially at night, but it's possible for a group of armed travelers."

"But you're out here, just the two of you," Syaoran pointed out.

Takaki placed his glasses back on his nose but had to adjust their position a few times before he was satisfied. "What? We're not – oh, of course. You've only met us. The rest of the party we were traveling with set up base camp at the last safe place, about a half a day's walk from here. That's where our priestess is. She doesn't need to come to the temple to communicate with Yuna."

"Right. So what exactly did Yuna tell her that makes you like us so much? She must have said more than just 'Oh, if you see these people, I want to have a word with them.'" Kurogane looked at the man without blinking.

It succeeded in making him nervous, although since this was how he appeared under normal circumstances it meant little. "Look, really, she wants to talk to you about that, and I don't think she would appreciate it if I went ahead and told you," Takaki squirmed.

Sakura took pity on the man. "You don't have to tell us everything she said, or anything like that," she said softly. "Maybe you could just tell us what she wants to talk to us about. I'm sure she wouldn't mind that, and you can tell her that we asked you and you were just trying to be nice. We're all friends here, and friends shouldn't keep secrets."

"I guess – and if that's what it takes to bring you to her – " Takaki was still rambling, but he looked calmer than before, thanks to Sakura's healing presence. "She wants to ask you for your help," he added, rather succinctly by his standards.

"Huh? What could we help her with?" Syaoran asked, frowning.

Takaki looked out into the forest. "I really can't say," he replied vaguely. "Look, it is getting dark, and we ought to get a fire going."

"In a minute," Kurogane growled. "You say you're going to talk to us, but then you avoid our questions or answer with nothing. So either tell us, or stop pretending that you're being helpful."

Takaki looked the ninja squarely in the eyes for the first time, and the older man remembered that he had already been surprised by the stranger once. He should stop thinking of him as a weakling, or he was going to be proven wrong.

"She's going to ask you for help in the war with the forest dwellers," he said.

Kurogane shook his head. "Sorry, but that's not our fight. We have nothing to gain by getting involved in some war we don't know anything about."

Syaoran gasped. "Kurogane-san, they need our help! How can you say no?"

"Because I have my priorities straight," he answered gruffly. "We don't have any reason to waste our time here with them while there are more important things to do."

"More important than these people's lives?" Syaoran asked doubtfully.

"Look, you have a goal," the ninja tried to explain patiently, and the kid nodded slowly. "If you get distracted by the problems of every person you meet on the way, you'll never finish your goal. Besides, wars are complicated things. How could you be sure you were doing the right thing?"

Syaoran set his mind to contemplating this, but before he could protest again Takaki coughed politely and interrupted with another comment.

"That is of course your decision," Takaki said sadly. "You four and your friend will have to discuss this with the priestess."

"Our friend?" Sakura asked, not daring to say the name in case she jinxed things.

"Mokona-kun," the stranger replied.

The teens breathed grateful sighs of relief, but the ninja fumed. _Trust the manjuu bun to find these people while we were out wandering the forest. He's probably been telling them all sorts of lies about us._ Kurogane could picture the scene now: the little manjuu bun sitting around a large, comfortable room, getting drunk with the obnoxious redhead and the priestess and telling them, "Kuro-wanwan is a big, friendly puppy!" It was enough to make a ninja sick.

"You met Moko-chan?" Sakura asked, anxious and excited. "How is he? Where is he? He was alright when you saw him, wasn't he?"

Takaki inched away from the princess and held up his hands, as if in defense or surrender. "Yes, he was fine when I met him. Very, uh, exuberant. As far as I know, he's at the base camp, with the priestess. He should be very safe there, so don't worry yourself about his welfare."

"Oh, I'm so glad!" Sakura was so glad she wanted to hug Takaki, but she didn't want to scare him. She just had too much joy to contain, so she turned to Syaoran and threw her arms around him.

The boy turned several interesting colors and stammered, "Er, yeah, me too." He seemed to decide that the easiest way of dealing with the princess' display of affection was to pretend it wasn't happening, so he glanced at Takaki and tried to continue the conversation. "Um, thank you for – the good news. Where, exactly did you say Mokona was?"

"At the base camp," Takaki replied, at the same time that Sakura's joy wore off enough for her to feel awkward. She let go of Syaoran and turned away from him on pretext of listening to Takaki's answer. "At least, that's where he should be. The guards who escorted us to the temple said they would take him back there. It's another clearing along the river, about half a day's walk from here. That's where our friends are staying. It's very safe; Yuna protects it from the monsters of the forest and from _magic_." He spat out the word as though it made his mouth taste bad.

The traveling companions exchanged careful glances. "Is that a serious threat here? Magic?" Syaoran asked as causally as he could.

Takaki looked astonished for a moment and then nodded knowingly. "Well, I guess they don't have magic where you are from. Where are you from, just out of curiosity?"

"Very far away," Syaoran said, and added carefully. "It's very different from here."

"Well it must certainly be a good place if there's no filthy magic to contaminate it," the nervous man commented wistfully. "Of course in Losai, there's nothing like _that_, but these – " he waved his hands vaguely, trying to express something he couldn't put in words " – horrible forest dwellers use magic for all sorts of wicked things. They've taken over the forest and filled it with all sorts of monsters they created."

"And that's why you're at war with them," Kurogane stated.

"Yes. Magic is an offense against Yuna, and against the natural order of things. And they use it for the most violent attacks against the villages surrounding the forest, including Losai."

"So what are five travelers supposed to do?" Kurogane scoffed.

Takaki shifted uneasily. "You'll really have to discussed that – "

Kurogane sighed. "I get it, I get it. You can't tell us anything."

The smaller man coughed. "I've told you what I know, really. Important things like the course of the war are left to the priestess. I'm just a humble doctor."

Syaoran decided to switch topics. Magic was obviously not something they wanted to discuss, and Kurogane was making their source of information nervous again. "Is your village a theocracy, then? The priestess is in charge?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. There's a town council that has a say in important secular matters, but the priestess is sort of the final word on any debate, as well as an advisor."

Takaki continued to chatter on, his lecture interrupted when Syaoran asked questions or shared stories about some of the places he had visited. Sakura tried to pay attention, knowing that the information about this world could be useful, but she was too tired. She hadn't had a moment of rest since they came to this world, and the day's walking and fighting had been preceded by several sleepless days of fighting in the last world. Without exactly meaning too, she rested her head on Syaoran's shoulder and fell asleep.

-

Author's Note: Let's start with an apology. I did NOT mean for this to take so long. Don't really have any excuses, either, that's just the way it turned out.

Secondly, I'm a bit worried about the story. Two reasons: Akane and Takaki sort of took over this chapter. I didn't really want them to, but I had a lot of exposition to do and this was the easiest way. (One thing you can say about Shine, she is a lazy, lazy girl, and so naturally she took the easy way out.) My two OCs will be in future chapters but I will try to limit their roles. Of course, if I had any control over my characters at all, this chapter would have gotten a lot further in the storyline and been shorter. Brings me to point two: This chapter carries on the tradition of the rest of the chapters in this story in that it was much longer than I thought it would be but didn't get far enough plot wise. Hm.

Anyway, please let me know what you think of Akane and Takaki. I hope you like them and if not, I hope you'll be honest so I can proceed accordingly. So reviews, etc. are most welcome and rather helpful.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: the usual

-

It was a long and strange night.

Kurogane could feel sleep pulling at him, weighing him down, but he refused to give in. They had laid Sakura down on a blanket and shortly after Syaoran had fallen asleep as well. Fai was still out, and that left only Kurogane to watch over them. Nothing some stranger said was going to make him trust his life to the care of some random deity he'd never heard of.

He listened carefully but heard little. There was the fluid, slimy sounds of the wolf-lizards moving just outside the clearing. They never came close enough to be seen, but he could tell that they were there, just out of sight. There were sounds of other animals moving around, owls hunting and bugs chirping. The loudest noises came from Takaki as he fidgeted and watched the fire. His restlessness irritated Kurogane and did nothing to ease his suspicions.

"Is there something I should know?" the ninja growled at the nervous man across the fire.

"What?" Takaki jumped and nearly fell into the fire. It was the first time either had spoken in over an hour. "You startled me, Kurogane-san, and I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"Is there some reason you're still awake even though you swear there's no need to stand guard? That we're completely safe here?"

"I have no malevolent motive, honestly. I simply wish to ask you something but was unsure how best to proceed."

"You should just ask, then. Sitting there thinking has gotten you no closer to an answer."

"Hm, you have a point. I would like to repeat to you my previous offer."

Kurogane didn't remember any offers, and said as much to Takaki, who shifted his gaze sideways until it fell on the magician.

"I am a doctor," he said very quietly. "I can help him, or at least take a look at him. I realize that you do not trust me, but consider it a peace offering."

Kurogane frowned, unhappy with the thought of a stranger messing around with his unconscious companion. After some consideration, though, he nodded his consent.

The doctor had watched in silence earlier in the evening when Kurogane had placed a rudimentary bandage on Fai's wound. Now he removed it and peered closely, his eyes squinting and his glasses in danger of slipping off his nose. "Light," he muttered, half to himself, and the ninja took a few logs from the fire, setting them up as torches around the patient.

Takaki's lips moved as he talked to himself, too quiet for even Kurogane's keen hearing to distinguish words. He checked Fai's pulse, breathing, and temperature, seeming to make a note of each. "Put some water on to boil," he ordered automatically, too absorbed in his work to think about tact. Kurogane went to the waterfall to fetch some water, scowling at being treated like a nurse.

When the water had boiled, the doctor soaked a cloth and used it to wipe away the blood that had dried around the wound. He looked at it more closely for a minute, then leaned back suddenly, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "This shouldn't be too much of a problem," he sighed, "It's the blood loss I'm worried about. But, treating the wound does come first."

Kurogane watched the doctor's movements closely for some sign of foul play. He worked quickly - the ninja would find out later that he had patched up many soldiers during the war. Takaki pulled several items from his pack - needles, thread, cloths, and a few bottles of vile smelling liquid.

Takaki dabbed one of the noxious liquids onto Fai's wound and rinsed his surgical equipment with another liquid, and then with the boiling water. He stitched up Fai's wound as though it were merely ripped fabric, and not living flesh. After examining his work and deciding it was good enough, he placed another bandage over it and sighed. "That should suffice, for the moment," he said with a yawn. "The rest will have to wait until he wakes up and I can see how he's doing. And I think that we would both benefit greatly from some sleep."

Kurogane said nothing. The doctor shrugged and leaned back against his medical kit. Half-sitting, half-lying down, he fell asleep in moments.

The ninja looked around the clearing once more. Despite the fire and the torches he had set up during Fai's operation, the place was dark. The moon and stars overhead were dim, and cast very little light. His eyes were giving him little information, so he decided not to rely on them. He extinguished the torches and sat with his back to the fire and his eyes shut. He focused his attention on listening to the woods around him.

He could still hear the waterfall, the wolves prowling, the crackling of the fire, the soft breathing of his companions. He ignored these noises and tried to listen for anything unusual.

At first he could only here those familiar noises, but he gradually became aware of another sound. He thought it was wind, but the trees were motionless. Then he thought it was more like a whisper, but everyone around him was asleep. Next it sounded like a buzzing. It bothered Kurogane, but he decided that it might just be one of the background noises and tried not to focus on that for too much longer.

Once, he thought there was a bright light, but when he opened his eyes everything was just as it had been before. Wary, he kept his eyes open, but whatever it had been did not happen again.

-

Sakura woke suddenly. She wasn't sure what had disturbed her sleep, but she had an uneasy apprehension hanging over her and she thought it might have been her own dream. She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about, but her jittery nerves did not make her eager to go back to sleep and resume the dream. She sat up instead, hugging her knees.

The clearing was dark - it was still night, but she had no idea how long she'd been asleep. She looked around her, and a blush crept slowly over her cheeks when she saw how close Syaoran was. She pulled her knees closer to her chest, scooted away, and looked around.

The fire was low, but in its dim light she could see Fai, sleeping unnaturally on his back on the other side of the fire. She wondered how he was doing and crawled over to him. He looked pale, but it was hard to tell for sure. His breathing was steady and it looked like he had a new bandage on. The princess turned and saw Takaki, sitting slouched against his bag. He was probably going to have a crick in his neck from sleeping in that position, so the kindhearted girl laid him out flat and covered him with the blanket that someone had placed over her.

That left one more person from their party, and she found the ninja sitting several feet away with his back to the fire, a dark figure barely visible in the blackness of the forest. She stood, hesitantly, and walked toward him.

She was only halfway there when his low voice growled, "What are you doing awake, princess?"

She stopped and said quietly, "I had a bad dream."

"Go back to sleep."

Sakura continued to walk to the ninja and stood beside him, looking down. He was staring at the trees ahead of him, and his attention didn't waver even as he gestured for her to sit down and said reproachfully, "You need sleep. Tomorrow could be a long day."

"That's okay," she said quietly but cheerfully as she sat next to him. "I'm not tired anymore," and it wasn't until she said it that she realized she wasn't. Whatever dream had startled her awake had done a very thorough job, and she didn't feel sleepy in the least.

He replied "Hm," as though he knew what she was thinking. She looked up at him, really looked at him, for the first time that night.

"Why don't you get some sleep, Kurogane-san?" she asked.

"I need to stand guard," he replied, no hint of fatigue in his voice, but the princess wasn't fooled. He'd been up longer than any of them, and for a good part of the day he'd been carrying Fai. He needed sleep much more than she did.

"That's okay! I can stand guard," she said a little more loudly than she meant to. She mimicked Kurogane's stiff posture and stared intently into the darkness. He looked down at her and saw the look of determination on her face.

He sighed. "Not like that," he instructed, and the princess glanced up at him in confusion. "If you focus that hard on one point, you'll get tired more easily, and you'll miss things that happen in other places. Now - don't look at one thing, don't listen to one thing, look and listen to everything." Sakura did her best to obey, but she didn't quite get it. Kurogane frowned, trying to remember how it had been explained to him a lifetime ago.

"Have you ever meditated?" he asked, and she nodded. "It's kind of like that. You're waiting for something to happen, and when it does, then you focus on it. Until then, you just wait. Got it?"

Sakura nodded again, and this time she looked like she really did understand. After breathing deeply a few times, she relaxed her stance and looked out at the forest.

A few minutes passed in silence. Sakura nearly jumped when Kurogane asked, "What do you see?"

The girl chewed her lip. "Not much," she admitted. "Just some movement in the shadows."

"That's okay. Don't rely on your sight when it's this dark. What do you hear?"

"Um...the waterfall. The fire. Breathing. Something moving out in the darkness." She sounded just a little nervous.

"Good. Now that you know what those sounds are, don't pay too much attention to them. Listen for anything different. You hear something else out there, you wake us up, okay?"

"Right!" The determination had come back to Sakura's face. She shut her eyes and bit her lip, concentrating.

Kurogane reached out and ruffled her hair, breaking her concentration and making her laugh. "Don't get too tense, remember?"

"Oh. Right." Sakura shut her eyes again.

"Night, kid."

"Good night, Kurogane-san."

The ninja moved closer to the fire before lying down. He was asleep as soon as he had shut his eyes, but even in his sleep he was listening.

-

Sakura sat alone, her listening turning into a trance. She pushed away all the sounds that were familiar to her, all the sounds she could identify, and listened for anything else. Sometimes a twig would snap in the forest, or Takaki would mutter something in his sleep, but these noises only disturbed her trance for a moment. Once she had realized what they were and decided they were no threat, she would go back to listening.

Gradually, another sound came to her attention. She couldn't place it any more than Kurogane could. At first, it sounded like someone murmuring off in the distance. The longer she listened, though, the more she thought it was music - a deep, rhythmic piece that lacked a melody. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but she didn't think she should wake up the men because of it. They needed their sleep, so she guarded them through the night.

Time passed quickly but change happened slowly. She didn't notice that the wolves were moving away from the clearing and deeper into the woods until they were almost all gone. The sky grew lighter, and the sound that was sometimes movement and sometimes whispers and sometimes music faded away into nothing.

In her alert state, her hearing was keener than usual, and she could hear footsteps from the cabin. She opened her eyes in time to see the temple door open to reveal Akane, who stumbled out looking exhausted. The redhead blinked a few times, getting her eyes to adjust to the light, and then looked around. Noticing Sakura, the older girl motioned for her to follow and started walking toward the waterfall.

Sakura glanced around the clearing, but the men were all still asleep. Everything seemed alright, so she followed Akane. When they were far enough away from the campfire that they wouldn't disturb anyone, but far enough from the waterfall that it wasn't too loud, Akane turned to Sakura. "Your name is Sakura," she said, showing just the tiniest amount of self-doubt.

"Yes," the princess said, slightly alarmed by the serious look that crossed Akane's face. "Is there something wrong?"

"Maybe," the redhead replied absent-mindedly. "But first I have to ask a favor of you."

"Oh, I'll do anything I can to help," Sakura said cheerfully.

"It might seem a little odd, to an outsider," Akane continued, "But you need to take part in a religious ceremony."

"Alright."

"Have you spoken to anyone else this morning?" When Sakura shook her head, Akane nodded. "Good. First, you need to wash up a bit, and change into this," Akane handed her the bag she had been carrying since she left the temple, and Sakura opened it and pulled out a white dress. "It's mine, so it might be a little large for you, but it'll have to do. You can change behind the temple after you've washed up. After that, you have to be silent. This is probably annoying, but it's a purification thing."

Sakura shook her head. "Don't worry. If it's important, I don't mind at all. Syaoran is always saying how we have to honor other people's cultures."

Akane stared at her, as though trying to memorize her features. "Thanks," she said, still sounding distracted, and walked back to camp.

Sakura put the dress back in the bag and approached the waterfall. This close, the sound hurt her ears, but she tried to ignore it and even hummed a little tune to herself. She could only hear it in her head, but it was reassuring – a song her father taught her when she was very little, and one of the earliest things she could remember.

The water was freezing, so she hurried as she splashed her face and her arms. Not wanting to miss anything important, she removed her shoes and washed her feet, almost shuddering at the cold but not letting the smile on her face waver for a second. When she felt she was clean enough, she put her shoes back on, grabbed the bag, and ran back to the temple.

-

Akane had started to build the fire up again, adding wood until it had reached a respectable height. Either the noise or the heat was great enough to wake Kurogane and Syaoran – not surprising, considering how lightly they slept.

"Where's Sakura?" the boy asked, going from sleepy to anxious in three seconds.

The redhead looked up and saw the girl was not at the waterfall. "Changing."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kurogane grumbled, standing.

"It means she's taking off one set of clothes and putting on another," Akane replied without looking up.

"That's not helpful."

"I don't have to answer to you," the redhead snapped. 

Takaki sat up with a yawn. "Isn't it a little" – yawn – "early for you to be so argumentative?"

"No," Akane answered, "You just slept late."

The doctor put on his glasses and looked around. "What? How late is it?"

"About an hour past dawn."

Takaki was suddenly wide awake. "We are going to be late! We should have left by now!"

She shook her head, but before she could say anything, she saw Sakura lean out from behind the temple and wave at her, frantically. "One minute," she excused herself, walking quickly to the other girl.

The princess bit her lip and gave the redhead a nervous look. "What's wrong?" Akane asked, and after a moment of silence laughed. "It's okay, you can talk for now."

"Oh," Sakura answered sheepishly. "I'm having some trouble with this dress and the other things..."

"Right. I should have remembered what a pain in the ass all this is, especially if you aren't used to it. Let me get that for you."

She helped Sakura tie the back of the dress. "Thank you," the princess replied, feeling a little silly. "I couldn't reach the lacings."

"Not a problem," Akane answered, and for the first time since she'd met the foreigners she sounded relaxed, even happy. "I'm just glad you're more patient than those friends of yours."

"What?" Sakura asked before remembering how Akane and Kurogane had fought the night before. "Kurogane-san isn't really such a bad person. I think you just caught him by surprise – he doesn't really like surprises, and we're all a little on edge, what with being lost, and Mokona disappearing, and Fai..." her voice trailed off.

The redhead coughed slightly. "Alright, scarf next," she said, and began wrapping the dark green scarf around Sakura's waist.

-

Syaoran, Kurogane, and Takaki stared at the temple with expressions of concern, annoyance, and confusion (respectively). "What's that all about?" Syaoran asked, debating whether or not to follow them. His internal debate was settled when he remembered that Sakura was changing, and he turned away from the building with his cheeks burning.

"I honestly have no idea," Takaki shrugged. "Akane was supposed to wake us and make sure we left here at dawn."

"Is that such a big deal?" Syaoran asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Well, we do have a considerable amount of walking to do today, and I hate to keep the priestess waiting...I would have thought Akane would be even more eager to see her. She hates being away from her sister for any amount of time."

"Well, apparently this religious ceremony is more important," Fai said nonchalantly.

There was a moment of silence as everyone processed this and turned, slowly, to face the blond, who was sitting up and stretching like a cat.

"You! How long have you been awake?" Kurogane asked.

Fai smiled, looking even more like a cat. "Oh, for quite some time. Long enough to have heard your touching little chat with Sakura-chan. You know, if you weren't so grumpy all the time, you really would make a good daddy - " and he laughed as Kurogane fumed.

"If you were awake that whole time, why didn't you say anything?" the ninja yelled.

Fai tilted his head, the very picture of wide-eyed innocence. "But this was _much_ more fun." Grinning, he added, "You weren't _worried,_ were you?"

"Why would I be worried? You'd cling to life just to make _my_ life miserable!"

The wizard sighed. "Aw, let's not fight in front of our son," and he laughed when he saw the confused expression on Takaki's face and the furious one on Kurogane's.

"Don't say stupid things," the ninja growled.

Takaki recovered his mental footing enough to remember that he was a doctor and the strange man was a patient. "How are you feeling?"

Fai shrugged. "A little dizzy."

"That's the blood loss," the doctor said, falling into a familiar routine. "Do I have your permission to examine you?"

The blond looked to his friends for clues and, receiving a nod from Syaoran, replied affirmatively. "But I really would feel more comfortable with an introduction," he added.

"Oh, of course. I forget that you missed last night's conversation. My name is Takaki, and I'm a doctor from the village of Losai. We found you and your friends last night when we came to the temple to meditate – well, Akane came to meditate – and it seems you were seeking shelter here from the forest dwellers. I understand you had a bit of an altercation with them."

Remembering more details from the previous night, Syaoran spoke up. "The _magic users_ are at war with Losai."

Fai got the message and grinned quite wickedly, making his companions a little nervous. "You just can't trust magicians," he said, staring right at Kurogane.

Takaki was measuring Fai's pulse and, fortunately, did not notice the irony in Fai's voice or the rude gesture Kurogane made. "Quite true," he said distractedly. "And now I was rather hoping you could share some information with me."

"Certainly," the blond replied, "If there's anything I can tell you."

"What did you mean earlier, when you made that comment about a religious ceremony?"

"Oh, that. Just something I overheard the young woman say."

"Akane?"

"If that's her name. She and Sakura were talking – quietly, because I don't think they wanted to disturb anyone, but I could hear them. She said that Sakura had to change and be purified, for some sort of religious ceremony."

Takaki frowned and fiddled with his glasses. "Hm...May I check your wound?"

"Sure," Fai chirped, and leaned backward so he could remove the bandage. "I feel much better, though."

"Still, I should check," Takaki said, peering closely at the wound through his glasses. "I think it would be best if I put some salve on that. One can never be too careful, after all." He didn't wait for a reply but hunted through his medical kit for some ointment, which he spread over the wound before re-bandaging it. "There. Finished."

"Good timing, too," Fai said, sitting up straight and waving. "Good morning, Sakura-chan!"

The other men looked back at the temple and saw Sakura and Akane walking toward them. Sakura, startled by Fai's greeting, smiled broadly when she saw him alive and well. She waved at him, but Akane placed a hand on her shoulder and said something to her. She nodded seriously and ran to her friends, throwing her arms around Fai. He tried not to wince, but his smile faltered for just a second.

"Morning, princess," Kurogane said gruffly. "What are you wearing?"

Sakura looked at him and stood up, allowing Fai to breathe a little easier. She gestured at her outfit: a white sleeveless dress that fell a little below her knees, a dark green scarf wrapped around her waist and tied to the side, a green headband that pushed her hair out of her face, white shoes with ribbon laces that ran up to her knees, three silver bracelets rattling on her left wrist but none on her right, and a necklace with a flat silver disc about six inches in diameter and runes running around the circumference.

"She can't talk to you," Akane commented.

"Why not?" Syaoran asked, concerned. "Is there something wrong?"

"Why on earth is she wearing your ceremonial dress?" Takaki asked.

"No, nothing's wrong, she just can't talk for the moment, because she's going to be part of a ritual of augury," she explained to Syaoran.

Takaki frowned. "Akane, that doesn't make any sense. She can't participate in a ritual – "

Akane interrupted. "She can if she gets purified. Hence the silence."

He continued as if he hadn't heard her. "And only a priestess can perform that ceremony, so there was really no need to dress her up like that until we get back to the other camp and she can speak to - " This time, there was no interruption, but he stopped when he saw the slightly embarrassed look on Akane's face. "What is it?"

"She's coming here," the redhead announced.

"WHAT?"

"She's coming here."

"That's ridiculous! That's – "

" - what I said," Akane finished dryly. "But onee-san never let common sense stop her from doing what she wanted. Isn't that right?" she asked, looking over his shoulders.

They all turned the way she was facing and saw a number of armed men enter the clearing, followed by a young woman. "If I'm stubborn, it's only because I take after you," she said with a laugh.

"You don't get to blame your problems on me." Akane was laughing as well. "You're the older sister; aren't you supposed to set a good example, or something?"

"Each of us must follow the path Yuna calls us too," the newcomer said haughtily, before laughing again. "Although now is not the time for jokes or lectures, but for introductions. I am Yuna's priestess, Tomoyo."

"Yeah," Kurogane muttered. "I figured."

-

AN: Late, again. It really just comes down to the fact that I'm a bit of a flake. So, apologies.

I know my OCs were still prominent in this chapter, but I needed a doctor for Fai (with no magic allowed, he couldn't just miraculously recover) and they kind of had to run the show until Tomoyo arrived to take over (which was supposed to have happened last chapter – d'oh!). They'll still be around, but less so. Hope they didn't get on your nerves too much.

The description about Sakura's outfit was a little awkward, but I am completely lacking in anything resembling a fashion sense. That's why I very rarely bother with descriptions of clothing. The scene with Akane helping Sakura get dressed is inspired by the many, many shopping trips my sister has dragged me on so that I can help her in the changing rooms. Seriously, why are dresses so hard to put on? I have no idea. That's why I hate them XD

I'm looking forward to the next chapter, now that we've got Tomoyo, Mokona, and Fai back into the mix, so _hopefully_ I'll get it out in the near future. Comment, reviews, encouragement are all most welcome. And, if you feel like telling me what a flake I am, you can do that too, cause we all know it's true XD


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: We discussed logic in my philosophy class the other day. Here's an example:

CLAMP owns Tsubasa.

I am not CLAMP.

Therefore, Socrates is mortal. Wait, what?

-

Purple eyes flickered over to Kurogane and quickly away. She didn't acknowledge his words but the corners of her mouth twitched momentarily upward.

_Damn_, the ninja thought. _I travel through dozens of universes and I still can't get away from that all-knowing smile._ Which made him wonder just how much this Tomoyo knew. The one in Piffle had spoken to his princess; had this one as well?

His questions were going to have to wait for another time, though, because Tomoyo was not the only arrival. Among the half-dozen armed men who followed her into the clearing were the ubiquitous Touya and Yukito. And close behind was a very strange sight indeed...

The silver-haired man was holding the hand of a short, skinny child, whose wild white hair and wide eyes made him look hyper and wild, and he laughed with such good will, and walked with such a spring in his step, that he seemed the epitome of childlike energy, harmless and sweet. But despite his innocent appearance, his laugh made the four travelers' hearts freeze for a second, because it was so familiar. When he spoke, they all knew whose voice it was, but not how it came to be speaking from this strange body.

"Mokona is so happy to see all of you!" he cried out, running from Yukito to hug Kurogane tightly. "Mokona missed you most of all, Kuro-daddy!"

The ninja growled and shook Mokona off. Some things, after all, are instinctual. "I'm not your daddy!" he shouted, pushing the little boy away. For a second, he felt something like remorse – tossing around and threatening Mokona was so much crueler when he was a child than when he was a furry rabbit-like creature who always seemed to bounce back. This Mokona did not bounce, at least not physically – he stumbled away from Kurogane, and the princess caught him, kissing him on his pale cheek to make everything alright.

"_This" Mokona,_ Kurogane thought darkly. _Do we just accept it's him?_ The thought, along with his feelings of remorse, died when he saw the insufferable, mischievous gleam in the boy's eye. _Hell yeah, that's the little monster._

"Mokona, are you alright? What happened?" Syaoran asked, while Sakura hugged Mokona lovingly.

"Sorry I worried you," he replied, snuggling closer to the girl. "Mokona got lost, and then found Tomoyo and her friends! They were nice to Mokona."

This was _not _a satisfactory answer, but they decided that, while they were surrounded by strangers, they would not discuss the transformation, even though curiosity was eating away at them all. "Well, that's some good news, at least," Fai said. "We're all glad you're okay - even Kuro-fuzz."

"Fai!" Mokona gasped, turning around to face the magician, "You're hurt! What happened?"

"It's nothing much," Fai smiled. "There was a little fight, but I'm fine now."

"A fight?" Mokona's hands flew up to cover his mouth.

"We ran into some of the wizards that these people are at war with," Syaoran explained.

"Oh, they told Mokona about the forest lords! They are very bad people, Yuki-kun said."

"Mokona," Syaoran asked, voice urgent. "Do they really have the feather?"

"Yep! That's what Tomo-chan said, and Mokona knows she's telling the truth. It's one of Mokona's 108 Super Special Skills - Truth Detecting! No one can lie to me and get away with it!" Mokona jumped up and down with pride.

"Ah, but I think Kuro-pup will want better proof," Fai reminded him, a little sorry to spoil the mood.

"Well," Mokona began, wriggling in the princess' arms and twisting his ears around. "Last night Mokona could sense a feather, just for a moment, but then it went away. There's some sort of barrier around it. Since the forest lords are the only people who use magic on this world, they must be the ones who have it!"

"Perhaps," Fai muttered, but too quietly for anyone to notice his doubts.

"You're sure?" Syaoran asked, already fairly convinced.

"Sure enough to make up for Kuro-daddy's cynicism." Mokona cheered up, and Sakura kissed the top of his head in silent thanks. He smiled up at her and took one of her hands, seeming to enjoy moving and making contact in ways that he hadn't been able to before.

Kurogane wasn't even bothering to watch the reunion any longer or listen to the two idiots mutilate his name – once he realized that he wasn't going to find out anything about Mokona's change, he turned his attention to more important things. He was using his sharp hearing to listen to the sisters' conversation. Despite a cheery greeting and smiles on both women's faces, they had quickly begun to argue - or rather, Akane was trying to argue. Tomoyo was as placid as ever.

"What were you thinking, leaving base camp like that? It was bad enough that you insisted on coming into the woods with me at all, but now you have to come to the temple, too?" Akane said fiercely but quietly, as though trying to hide their disagreement, but Kurogane could tell by the looks on the soldiers faces that the two arguing was no rare occurrence.

"You didn't object when Takaki asked to accompany you on your pilgrimage," Tomoyo observed, grinning wickedly.

Akane's face turned as red as her hair, but her voice didn't change. "That's different, and you know it. The point is, you're the priestess, and Losai needs you. The people follow you and respect you. You're irreplaceable! You need to consider your safety, onee-san, and take it more seriously. What would we do if you got killed because you ventured into enemy territory on a whim?"

"Don't you trust Yuna - and our friends -" she gestured toward the soldiers, making her sister scowl, "to keep me safe? You're worried about nothing."

"And you're stalling." Akane suddenly sounded less angry and more worn out. "It isn't a whim, is it?"

Tomoyo tilted her head and looked kindly at her sister. "No," she said simply.

"Well? Do I get to find out why you had to come here?" Akane asked, and attempted to sound as certain as she had in her anger. "Assuming it wasn't just to drive me crazy."

"Well, that's a bonus," Tomoyo laughed, "We'll talk later, but that's all I'm saying for now. There's the ceremony to perform, and of course I want to talk with out visitors...especially the tall one who's been eavesdropping."

Tomoyo didn't even look at him, but Akane spun around and glared at Kurogane. He glared back, and the redhead might have drawn her sword again if her sister hadn't diverted her attention.

"Mokona-kun has told me so much about all of you," the priestess began. "You must be Syaoran-kun, and Fai-san, and Kurogane-san, and of course Sakura-chan." She nodded to each of them, smiling with genuine joy. "I'm very glad to meet you."

The princess smiled just as warmly. Syaoran and Fai bowed respectfully, and Kurogane nodded curtly.

"You look very cute in that outfit, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo commented, "And I want to thank you for helping us with this. Are you sure you don't mind taking part in this?"

Sakura shook her head vehemently.

"Thank you! That's very sweet of you. Has Akane told you about the ceremony?"

The princess hesitated, then shook her head again, more slowly this time.

"I didn't really get around to that," Akane sighed, observing the conversation with misgivings.

Tomoyo tsk-ed affectionately at her sister. "You could have told your understudy about your responsibilities."

Akane rolled her eyes in exasperation. "First, they're not _my_ responsibilities. Second, I didn't have time because you were early. You tell her."

Tomoyo held her gaze for a long moment before turning back to the silent girl. "Alright, I will," she evenly. "In the temple?"

Sakura nodded her consent and waved at Syaoran before following the priestess across the clearing and into the building. She tried had to concentrate hard to stop herself from tripping over her borrowed shoes, but made it to her destination with no incident.

Once inside, Tomoyo drew the curtains bowed to each corner of the room and pulled out a small pouch filled with grayish powder. She sprinkled the powder on the floor in a large circle, which the two young women sat cross-legged in the middle of.

Tomoyo began solemnly, "Sakura-chan, the ceremony I need your help with is one of prophecy. With the war and your arrival, we need as much help and guidance as we can get. I will talk to Yuna, and she will talk to me through you, telling me about things to come. Traditionally, your role would be played by someone who was trained for the job, a relative of the priest of priestess, but my headstrong sister has abdicated from all official duties, and there is no other relative to take her place." Tomoyo chuckled, contradicting the sadness with which she had said those words. "But I'm sure she would be telling me to get to the point, so I will. You have some kind of power, I don't understand what it is, but it should make up for a lack of preparation. And in any case, all you really need to do is let go, to relax and let your mind unfocus."

Sakura was burning with questions, but true to her word, she kept her mouth shut and simply watched Tomoyo walk about the small place of worship, lighting candles and incense. Finally, after much bowing and murmuring, the young priestess returned to the princess and motioned for her to stand. Sakura scrambled up, stepping on the trailing end of her scarf, and nearly tripped. Red-faced, she straightened out her clothing and looked up to meet Tomoyo's eyes, which were soft with understanding.

"Don't worry so much, Sakura-chan," she said lightly, then reached out to touch the girl's forehead. She whispered more incomprehensible words quickly and fluidly. Sakura realized that she was straining to listen to the sounds, to try and make sense of them, so she stopped thinking about them and just let them flow over her. She realized that she was suddenly tired – more than that, she was completely exhausted on a physical, mental, and spiritual level, a feeling she was quite familiar with. It was the same as when she had a feather restored to her. She felt distant from everything, but somehow remained on her feet, her eyes narrowed until they nearly closed. Her mind was working very slowly and sluggishly, telling her that the space around her was dark and filled with smoke. _How odd,_ Sakura though vaguely, before trying to banish any thoughts at all from her head. She fortunately had no more time to think about anything because Tomoyo had ceased her chanting and had knelt.

There was silence for a moment, before a voice began in speak, in the same flowing language Tomoyo had used. The words were foreign to the girl, but the voice itself was familiar. After what seemed a long time, the girl realized _Oh, it's my voice._ In her absent state of mind, she hadn't noticed the way her mouth was moving, her vocal chords vibrating, her lungs taking in and expelling air. Now, she couldn't stop herself from noticing these things, and focusing on them.

In her moment of realization, the words faltered, and she panicked. _No! I've messed everything up!_ She thought desperately, and the passion in her response only made the problem worse. She was failing to relinquish control over her body and consciousness, and so the voice could not speak through her. Her worry and her emotions were strengthening her awareness and pulling her faster out of the hazy dreamlike state. Her eyes fluttered wide open when Tomoyo stood, and she cried out, "Oh, Tomoyo-san, I'm sorry!"

"What?" Tomoyo asked, sounding so shocked that she wondered, for a horrible moment, if she was still supposed to be silent.

Deciding that what harm was to be done had already been done, the girl continued talking, green eyes filling with tears. "I'm so sorry! I made the voice stop, right in the middle of what she was saying! I didn't mean to," she moaned.

Tomoyo hugged her. "It's alright, Sakura-chan," she said, "I meant it when I said you shouldn't worry so much."

"I interrupted the ceremony," Sakura muttered into the older girl's shoulder.

"Let me worry about that," Tomoyo answered firmly. "You are not to blame. Now, let's go back to the others, okay?" She pulled away and examined Sakura. "Are you up to that?"

Sakura breathed deeply a few times and nodded. The thought of standing next to Syaoran, seeing his curiosity and compassion as she told him all about the ceremony, made her feel better, so she composed herself and prepared to follow Tomoyo outside.

Unfortunately, she had not realized how long the ceremony had really taken, since she had spent most of it in a trance. Tomoyo had a better idea of how much time had passed, but there was something neither of them knew – just how much had changed in their absence, what events had taken place outside their little world.

-

Time passed slowly while the two young women were inside the temple. The new arrivals, who had been marching through the forest for the better part of the night, were glad to seize the opportunity to rest, drink some water from the falls, and rebuild the fire so they could cook over it. Fortunately, they were not stingy, and the latest incarnation of Touya handed bowls of rice and vegetables to Fai, Syaoran, and Kurogane (though his kindness did not extend to his attitude, which was decidedly suspicious, as were those of the other soldiers). He even offered a bowl to Mokona, but the little boy declined, preferring to steal from Kurogane and beg from Fai. Touya also handed two to Takaki. The doctor took both over to Akane, who had wandered away from the rest of the group.

They all settled down in a quiet, expectant atmosphere; anyone who had seen them then would have known they were waiting for something. Syaoran, waiting as long as he could and deciding that the villagers were too far away to listen, turned to Mokona. Before he could ask any of his questions, though, the white-haired boy asked one of Kurogane, who was scanning the clearing with his eyes. "Whatcha doing, Daddy?" he asked while standing on his hands, pleased with his newfound acrobatic abilities.

The ninja, determined not to respond to "daddy" and give the ridiculous title _any_ validation, did not answer until Fai poked him in the side. "Answer the question, Kuro-kuka," the magician asked, lying on his back with his eyes closed.

Kurogane growled but decided it wouldn't be very sporting to beat a wounded man while he was resting. So he answered brusquely, "Keeping lookout."

Mokona laughed. "That's silly! Don'tcha know that all the sacred spots are safe?"

"No, I don't know that, and I'm not going to risk my life on some superstition."

"But it's true!" Mokona protested, dropping out of his handstand and landing inelegantly on his back. Scrambling a bit until he was sitting up properly, he continued, "The place we camped at yesterday, and here, they have some kind of energy around them, forming a ward! Even when we were traveling last night, the energy spread out from Tomoyo-chan and kept us all safe!"

Kurogane, without ceasing his constant surveillance, filed this information away. Fai did the same, only the slightest furrowing of his brow indicating that he was listening at all. Syaoran was merely curious to hear his companion's story, and took their silence as an opportunity. "What happened to you, anyway?" he asked eagerly. "All you said is that you got lost and found Tomoyo-san and the others."

"Well, Mokona isn't sure exactly what happened, at first," he began, not letting his uncertainty dim his enthusiasm for so much as a second. "I stopped for a minute to catch my breath, and then everybody was gone! There was something, just then, but if it was magic it was too quick for me to really tell it was there. Then nothing looked right, and nobody answered when I called out. At least, at first. I wandered around for a bit, and then Kage-san found me and pointed in a direction, and told me to go that way. But when I started to walk that way, he disappeared, and when I looked around for him, there was more magic and I fell over. When I got up, I was like this!" Mokona exclaimed, excitedly making big gestures with his arms. Syaoran looked around, but no one seemed to be paying too much attention to the scene he was creating. "I got up, because I figured I didn't have much choice but to go and see what I could find, which was Tomo-chan and the others!"

They digested this for a minute and tried to see what they could make of it. No matter how Fai looked at it, he could not find a good way of seeing things, so he propped himself up on an elbow to watch Mokona. "You saw Kage-san?" he asked, his mild tone revealing none of his concerns.

"Yup!"

Fai tilted his head. "But Kage-san was with us the whole time, until he died."

Syaoran frowned in concentration. "Maybe he didn't really die," the boy thought out loud. "He was just a shadow creature. Was he ever really alive in the first place? If he wasn't, maybe he can't die..."

"Hyuu, Syaoran-kun's a philosopher!" Fai cheered. "But there's another problem here."

"What's that?" Mokona asked, mimicking the blond's pose and lying on his side.

"Distance," Kurogane said, his thoughts leading him to the same conclusions as Fai. "We were a few hours away from this clearing, and they were at least that far away as well. But they were coming from the other side. There's no way the manjuu boy could have found them in that short amount of time."

"A transportation spell," Fai mused. "That must have been the 'something' that you sensed when you stopped."

For the first time since he had entered the clearing, Mokona stopped moving and became completely still.

"And there's the other question," Kurogane grumbled, not looking at his companions but at the border.

"Oh?" Fai asked slyly, already knowing where the ninja was going with this, and hoping weakly that there would be some other answer he hadn't thought of.

Kurogane resisted the urge to smack the magician and spoke for the kid's benefit. "Someone transported and transformed the manjuu for some unknown reason. That ghost said it was created by magic, that some magician sent it to help us – but only magic users here are our enemies. So either these people are not really our allies, they've lied to us..."

"...Or it was a trap," Syaoran finished, his stomach plummeting at the thought that he could have led Sakura into danger – or that he had. Desperately, he stared at the temple and _willed_ the princess to come out, safe and sound, but the door remained shut.

"Do we really have any evidence that they are on our side?" Kurogane asked quietly, now keeping an eye on the soldiers Tomoyo had brought with her.

There was a long pause until Mokona, feeling he had to say _something_ and fill the silence, said lamely, "We can trust Tomo-chan, can't we? She's a friend, she's nice to us..."

"Not her," Kurogane shook his head slightly. "Other Tomoyos."

"But it's the same person, sort of," Syaoran tried to explain.

"Yuko-san warned us about this," Fai reminded them. "An ally in one world could be an enemy in the next."

"I'd say it's time we got the full story," Kurogane muttered darkly. "Enough with vague comments and promises."

They fell into an uneasy hush, shifting restlessly and waiting for the priestess to reappear with Sakura. The minutes dragged, and Syaoran was so worried that he didn't immediately notice the changes around him. He wrote it off as a side effect of overtaxed nerves, until Fai sat up straight and rested a hand on Kurogane's shoulder. The two men looked at each other and stood up quickly, the ninja drawing his sword.

Syaoran stared at him, anxiety growing. It hadn't been his imagination after all; it had been getting darker slowly, and now that he looked up, he saw clouds in what had been a clear blue sky. The boy scrambled to his feet as well, heart hammering loudly in his ears.

Tomoyo's soldiers had noticed Kurogane's sudden motion and walked over to investigate. "What are you doing?" Touya asked, sounding polite and annoyed at the same time.

"Something's happening," Kurogane answered briefly, just sounding annoyed.

"What, the clouds?" the soldier asked, noticing how Syaoran eyed the sky. "Some bad weather. Unusual, maybe, but nothing to..."

He stopped because the weather abruptly went from "unusual" to "unnerving." Fog sprang up out of nowhere, swirling through the clearing and all around it. It only took a minute for their visibility to be severely reduced. "What the hell?" Touya sputtered, as the other soldiers drew their swords.

A whistle pierced through the fog and cautiously but quickly they moved toward the source of the sound – Akane, who had steered her way through the gloom toward the temple. She was standing alert and tense with her sword in hand. "What's going on?" she yelled in frustration and fear as they gathered closely around her.

"No idea," Yukito said, throat dry.

"It's magic," Mokona whispered quietly, standing on tiptoe and pulling on Syaoran's arm in order to put his mouth to the boy's ear. "Something very bad is coming!"

"Do you hear them?" Kurogane asked, as calm as he had been at breakfast.

Some of the soldiers glanced at each other, confusion mingling with alarm on their faces, but Akane merely snapped, "Yes. And we need to be ready to defend the temple if they break through."

The travelers, with their newly sown doubts, hesitated for a second. In the end they decided that they had to defend Sakura, and since that meant defending the temple, they nodded their agreement.

"I thought nothing could get through," Kurogane said dryly, earning him another glare from the redhead.

"Yeah, well, fog isn't supposed to come down this quickly, and the wolves aren't supposed to be able to walk in the daylight. Shit happens."

"Looks like today is a special day," Fai commented casually. "Lucky us. Anyone have a staff I could borrow, by any chance?"

The soldiers gazed at him and his bandage with skepticism, condescension, and confusion. Kurogane's gaze, in contrast, was calculating. It only took him a moment to find an answer, and he turned to Takaki. "You have a bow. Are you any good?"

The doctor fidgeted. "Well, no, not really, I – "

Short on patience, the ninja snapped, "Give it to him," and his voice had such force and authority that Takaki obeyed without question. Fai accepted the bow and quiver of arrows with a nod, before drawing the bow and muttering that it would be "good enough."

Akane watched, scoffing when the wounded man took the weapon, but not interfering. "Fine, if we're all ready," she said sarcastically, "You four go around the back," she pointed to four of Tomoyo's soldiers, including Touya. The men looked insulted, and one opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. "This is not the time for petty squabbles," she said through gritted teeth.

"Come on, be a man," Touya ordered, and this time they went.

"Damn," Akane sighed, before snapping back to attention. "We'll guard this side, if you think you're up to it," she challenged Kurogane.

The ninja growled, "Just try to stay out of the way, little girl."

She grinned, not from joy, but from some wild emotion. She turned so her back was towards the temple wall and waited for something to happen.

They spread out, and Syaoran found himself between Kurogane and Akane. From his position, he could barely see Fai, and the others were completely invisible to him. He cleared his throat, nearly jumping at the sound, and asked, "Akane-san – what about Tomoyo-san and Sakura-hime?"

The woman shook her head. "We can't interrupt them," she said. "Onee-san might be able to help us when they're done, but that could be hours. Or it could be now."

There wasn't anything left to say, and nothing to do but wait, and listen. The fog flattened and muffled sounds, but Kurogane could still hear the lizard-wolves, at the edge of the clearing, prowling and trying to get in.

That was all there was for several long minutes, before a loud _crack_ shattered the silence. An unearthly howl went up from the wolves as they ran into the clearing and pounced upon the defenders.

Kurogane had no time to worry about betrayal or mysticism. The damn monsters were as fast as he remembered, darting in and out of the fog, appearing and disappearing almost before he could react. Almost. He swung Souhi in swift strokes, relying more on instinct then thought, and was rewarded by the sight of the wolves falling to the ground. As they had done once before, the bodies disappeared moments after hitting the grass. Kurogane put it out of his mind; chasing ghosts was a good way to become one.

More than a few went down with arrows in them. The archer had dropped back behind the swordsmen when the fight began. If anyone else had been standing behind him in the fog, aiming at a moving and very close target, Kurogane would have worried; but whatever else he could say about the man, Fai was a damn good shot.

He was also careful and efficient, trying to conserve arrows and taking only the best shots. The magician didn't want to think about what he would do when he ran out. Magic was always a last resort, but he would much prefer if it didn't come to that, especially in the midst of possibly hostile magic-hating natives who had information they needed.

-

Kurogane paused for a second, luring four beasts closer before diving low and slicing through two of them with one blow. The third stumbled, trying to change direction too quickly, and was set upon by its snarling companion, who had better reflexes if no more intelligence.

The ninja sneered at them and took a second to glance at the kid. Syaoran was not holding up as well; he was fighting defensively, managing to protect himself from serious harm, but not managing to inflict any, either. He also seemed to be favoring his left leg. That wouldn't do; there was no way he could last much longer like that, so Kurogane did what he could to get closer to the boy and help him out.

There was no way of telling how many enemies were in the clearing, or the woods around them, so Kurogane could not estimate how much longer the battle would go on, but he knew that the longer is lasted, the worse there chances would be. Trying to gauge the situation, he turned to the side to see how Akane was faring.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the temple door open.

-

Fai had reached the dreaded moment – he was down to his last arrow. He thought fleetingly of using it as a dagger, but discarded the idea without serious consideration. The shaft wouldn't take that kind of abuse for long before it would snap, and he doubted that he was in any condition to fight the monsters up close. The exertion of archery had left him shaky, and he was running on adrenaline and will power as it was. Regretfully, he picked a final shot and watched the beast fall and disappear. He walked backwards and leaned against the temple wall for support, hoping he wouldn't have to use his magic but not seeing an alternative...until the door opened next to him and Tomoyo stepped out.

He was close enough to her to hear her steady breathing as she surveyed the battlefield. Calmly, as though she saw this kind of thing everyday, she turned back around toward the temple and placed a hand on its wall. As she stood there, power surged from her and into the building.

Fai nearly fell over. It was magic – different from the kind practiced on Celes, but undoubtedly magic. _Guess they were lying after all_, he thought cynically.

-

"Akane," the priestess said without moving. Though she did not raise her voice, her sister heard her clearly. "Get everyone inside."

"Inside the temple! NOW!" the redhead bellowed, grabbing Yukito roughly by the arm and pushing him toward the building. He stumbled through the door, passing Sakura, who peered outside in dismay. Fai followed him in, and the princess nearly cried when she was him, disheveled and out of breath.

"Fai-san! What happen?"

The blond waved her off and collapsed in the corner. When he was in contact with the building, it was even easier to sense the magic flowing into and around it – and simple but strong spell for protection. He hoped it would be enough.

Sakura, seeing she would get no answer, rushed back to the door. Touya had just entered, supported by another soldier, and while she knew logically that he was not her brother, it still stopped her heart to see his right leg dangling limp and useless below him, bleeding. While she stared at him, horrified, Takaki ran in, panting. "Who – else?" he gasped.

"Syaoran, Kurogane, and Mokona are still out there," Sakura answered, trying her best to stay composed, and then ran to the door. The others were talking, sharing the names of soldiers who had fallen in battle, but all she could think about was Syaoran. He, Kurogane, and Akane were trying to hold off the wolves long enough for Tomoyo to finish what she was doing, but there were just too many of them. Hand to her mouth, Sakura watched.

Mokona stumbled toward the sanctuary, the chaos making him unstable on his new legs. Sakura hardly noticed when he grabbed her arm to try and regain his balance – her eyes were on the four outside, though they were little more than shadows in the mist. She dimly heard Akane yelling at Tomoyo to hurry up.

The next sound was one that she could hear very clearly, because it was the one she had been straining her ears for and hoping she would not hear – Syaoran gasping in pain. A moment later, he fell forward, clutching a wound in his chest that bled profusely.

Her body reacted before her mind could process this even, and she ran outside, ignoring Mokona's protests as he grabbed for her and missed.

-

"Onee-san! We don't have time!" Akane yelled as Kurogane moved to stand over his comrade's body.

"Just get inside," the priestess told her sister.

"NO!"

"You have to."

"And leave you here?"

"Yes."

Akane screamed, venting her anger on the nearest wolf-lizard. Still, she couldn't disobey when Tomoyo was being so serious, so calm, so sure of herself. So Akane bent over, slung Syaoran over her shoulder, and began her retreat. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Sakura standing in the fog and snapped, "Get inside!"

The girl just spoke one word: "Syaoran."

"He's –" she began, not even sure what she would say.

The wolves spared her the necessity of finding any words, surging forward with renewed ferocity. Perhaps they knew their prey was preparing to escape, or perhaps they simply saw an opportunity. Akane didn't have time to think about this or anything else, doing what she could to protect herself and falling back toward the temple door. She was dimly aware of Kurogane killing a wolf that had been targeting the princess, and it gave her a mild sense of relief that she wouldn't have to protect both teenagers.

She was the closest to the door when something odd began to happen. It got harder and harder to see her allies, the temple, the monsters around her. The fog was thickening ominously, and just as she stepping into the building with the injured boy, it condensed further, blocking everything from sight.

"Sakura-chan!" Mokona cried, pulling himself away from restraining hands and trying to rescue his friends. When he reached the door, though, he was stopped as though there were a wall blocking his path. "What happened?"

Fai was whiter than a ghost. "The spell's finished, the protection is sealed," he said in quiet horror.

"No!" Mokona objected, fearing it was true. "Sakura-chan! Kuro-daddy!" he beat at the empty air with his small fists but could not break through. Yukito and Takaki also tried passing through the open door, but were no more able to than the little boy.

They were trapped inside, and they could do nothing but wait while their friends faced monsters alone.

-

AN: So, another appearance of human!Mokona. I think I might be a little obsessed with turning Mokona into a person. Anyway, I think it is fun to picture him as a child, because he would be _so_ cute.

This was a longish chapter, but I thought that ending it any earlier wouldn't work as well. I've decided to not worry too much about word count, so there might be some random chapter lengths in the future.

I wrote most of this on an airplane, after a few false starts, and had to edit it a _lot_ when I typed it, so blame errors on turbulence, sleep deprivation, recycled air, and that crying baby a few rows back. I think it turned out pretty well, but I want to hear what you think! Comments/criticism/Reviews of any kind are welcome, and thank you for reading.


	7. Chapter 7

Fai pulled himself up, and with great pains, walked back to the door and put a hand on Mokona's shoulders. "Moko-chan," he said hesitantly, and the small boy turned and threw his arms around Fai. The magician nearly fainted but managed to stay on his feet.

"We have to get out there!" Mokona wailed.

"We can't, Moko-chan," Fai tried to be reassuring, but was hampered somewhat by the fact he could hardly breathe.

Mokona heard how strained Fai's voice was and pulled away, wiping tears from his eyes with the back of his hand. "Are you - alright, Fai?" he asked weakly.

"I'm more worried about Syaoran," Fai answered gravely, turning his head toward the center of the room.

Akane lowered Syaoran onto the floor and stepped back, gesturing at Takaki. The young doctor rushed forward and kneeled by the boy. "Oh no," he moaned. "This is bad, this is _very_ bad..."

Mokona leaned forward and gasped. Four deep grooves sliced open Syaoran's chest. He had slipped into unconsciousness, and blood was staining the floor around him.

"You can fix him, can't you?" Akane demanded harshly, and Takaki turned to stare at her with wide eyes and an anxious expression.

"_Fix him?_ He's _dying_, Akane, and I'm not some miracle worker! The, the wounds are too deep, they hit organs, arteries, there's nothing I can do!" He clenched his teeth together to stop himself from babbling and turned back to Syaoran, hoping vainly that there _was_ something he could do.

Fai stared numbly at the body of his companion, the boy who had wanted only to save his love and had worked so hard and given up so much to achieve this goal. He barely felt Mokona leaning back toward him in shock. His thoughts were far away, lost in his frozen past, and the only coherent thought he had was that the one thing he had always wanted to do, the thing he had never been able to do, was to heal.

Akane was glaring at Takaki. "You - you can't do _anything?_ He's going to die?"

"Stop saying that!" Mokona yelled, and everyone in the room turned to look at him in surprise. He was hardly an inch over four feet tall, but he bristled and stamped his foot and seemed larger and more intimidating. "He's not going to die!"

"I'm sorry, but sometimes things happen and no one can do anything about it," Takaki tried to break it to him, but he was having none of it.

"No! He - Yuko! Yuko can help!" The boy shut his eyes and breathed hard for several seconds. "It's not working," he breathed out. "Fai-san, it's not working."

Fai wrapped the small boy into a hug and thought quickly. _What could do this? Is it because he's a human, or because of the spell on the temple?_

He looked up, examining the spell around the building to see if it guarded against magic as well as physical attacks - and noticed the haunted, devastated look on Akane's face. One would have thought that it was her friend dying on the temple floor. Her lips were moving silently as she looked at Syaoran, and she shut her eyes and her mouth simultaneously.

"Syaoran can't die," Mokona muttered, regaining a grip on himself.

"He won't," Akane said shortly, and the men shot her several questioning glances, which she ignored. She knelt next to Takaki and gruffly asked him to move back.

"What are you - " he began.

"Please, just do it!" she said, a note of hysteria in her voice, and he obeyed, though he watched her with clear worry.

"Yuna guide us," she prayed, and added so quietly that Fai had to strain his ears to hear, "Don't let this be a mistake."

She placed one hand lightly on Syaoran's chest and traced a circle around it with her other hand. Fai was the only one not surprised when a soft light began to glow, illuminating the boy and the woman and filling the temple. It grew brighter, until they had to squint and shut their eyes - and then it was gone, and with much blinking they were all able to see again. Their eyes fell on Syaroan, who sat up with an expression of confusion on his face and his chest whole and unmarred. Akane was sitting beside him, her face in her hands.

"Magic?" Mokona asked, but was happy to worry about details. For a moment, he even stopped worrying about Kurogane and Sakura. "Syaoran, you're okay!" He launched himself at the young man, who stood shakily and braced himself just in time.

"What happened?" he asked, looking around him. "Where's Sakura?"

Mokona's face fell, and he opened his mouth to explain, but was interrupted.

"Magic!" Touya spat the word venomously. The soldier who had helped him reach the temple strode forward and grabbed Akane off the floor. She was in no mood to be touched, and shook him off with a snarl.

"You filthy bitch!" he yelled in her face. "You're a spy!"

"No I'm not!" she yelled back.

"You just used magic! In the temple! You're a traitor!"

"No I'm NOT!" she repeated, her face turning white with fury.

"You - " he grabbed her arm again, and this time she slapped him.

"A boy was going to die! I saved him! What's so wrong with that?"

Fai interceded. "They tell us magic is forbidden in your village."

Akane looked as though she might slap him, too, but she wrapped her arms around herself and answered, "It is," trying to keep her voice level.

The secret magician raised an eyebrow. "Well, we're grateful for what you've done for us, don't get me wrong, but I have to wonder why you've been lying to us."

"Why you've been lying to all of us," Yukito added meaningfully.

"None of your damn business," Akane replied furiously.

"I disagree," Touya said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You just committed a crime -"

"I had no choice! Do you think I wanted to?"

"That's not the point," the raven-haired man continued. "You didn't just learn how to do that; you knew already, which means you've _practiced_ magic before, and that is a crime."

"Is this really the time and place for this?" Fai said, smoothly sliding into the conversation. "Our friends are out there, and so is your priestess."

Yukito and Touya looked a little embarrassed that they had forgotten this. The other warrior, who Fai thought had been called Kazuki, was still glaring at Akane. Takaki was carefully looking at Fai and his companions and away from the redhead, who was giving the magician a grudgingly grateful nod.

"Sakura is still out there?" Syaoran exclaimed.

"I'm afraid so," Fai answered. "She and Kurogane didn't make it inside in time."

"In time for what?"

Akane answered before Fai could. "Tomoyo asked for Yuna's blessing to be placed on the temple, to protect it from the wolves."

Fai looked very closely at the woman. She looked miserable and determined. _So that's how it is_, the blond mused.

"They fell behind," she added guiltily.

"You abandoned them, you mean," Kazuki muttered under his breath.

"I didn't!" Akane rounded on him. "She FORCED me to! And it isn't my fault the girl went outside! She had no business jumping onto a battlefield!"

"This isn't Sakura's fault," Mokona said, placing his hands on his hips and glowering. Because he was still learning the subtleties of human facial expressions, the look didn't have the effect he intended, but it was enough for the jumpy and beleaguered Akane.

"Yes, it is! She knew what was going on out there. If she wasn't prepared to risk death, she should have stayed where it was safe." Syaoran opened his mouth to argue, but she didn't give him the chance. "And if your tall friend hadn't had to defend her, he would have made it inside as well! Now they're all out there, and they could DIE."

"We're all scared, but that doesn't mean you have to blame Sakura," Syaoran said when Akane was drawing a breath. She exhaled and breathed again, shallowly, before retreating to the opposite side of the room and punching the wall, hard.

"More importantly," Syaoran addressed the other people in the temple, "How do we help them?"

"I'm afraid we can't," Yukito gulped. "We can't get outside."

"You've tried?" Syaoran asked, determined to keep his hopes up.

"Yes," the silver-haired man nodded. "We can't get through the door."

"There has to be a way," he reflected, and he sounded so sure of himself that no one felt able to contradict him. On the contrary, they felt reassured.

"Tell me about these 'blessings,'" he started.

"What do you want to know?" Touya asked suspiciously.

He considered this carefully. "Last night Takaki told us that there were safe places, in the forest, that your enemies couldn't get to."

"That's not exactly true," Yukito explained. "We don't know if the Venians - the forest dwellers - could get through the barriers. As far as we know, they've never tried. The blessing guards specifically against the wolves. You see, the Venians rarely attack us. They usually send the wolves."

"But the wolves did manage to get through," Syaoran stated. "How?"

The men shared a look, before Touya carefully answered, "We don't know. It shouldn't have happened."

"Could they have found a way to break it?"

"The wolves aren't intelligent creatures," Yukito said, shaking his head. "It's unlikely they could have. Although, it's possible that the magicians found a way. Tomoyo-san said that lately they have been getting more powerful. I don't know if that means they would be able to do something like this."

"But they would be able to change the weather? Have they done anything like that before?"

Yukito shook his head again, but Kazuki spoke out harshly. "They have. When they attacked Tansav." For the benefit of the travelers, he added, "They destroyed that village a year ago. In the middle of the day it suddenly became dark and began to rain."

"But something like that would take a lot of magic," Syaoran mused. "Probably enough magic to break through Yuna's protection." Something occurred to him. "You said they never tried to get through the protection and into the safe areas before," he reasoned. "Even though it's on _their_ territory. They attack your villages instead. Why is that?"

"They can't?" Yukito guessed. "They obviously can now, but maybe they couldn't before."

"But they never even tried?" Syaoran frowned. "That seems odd. There's something different now, and it isn't just their ability."

Touya cast an scrutinizing look over the boy and didn't seem to like what he had seen. "Then what else could it be?"

"I'm not sure," Syaoran remarked. "Right now, that's not the most important thing, either. We just need to figure out how we get out of here. You're _sure_ the door doesn't work?" he asked, walking over to it and trying to pass a hand through. As it had before, the air proved to be solid. "This doesn't normally happen at the safe spots, does it?" he frowned. "I mean, we got in just fine, and so did you."

"Maybe the need is more urgent, so the blessing is stronger?" Yukito guessed, but didn't seem to agree with the answer.

"I don't suppose any of your religious symbols might work?" Syaoran said hopefully. "The circle seems particularly significant..."

-

Fai slipped away. They saw him, but were too wrapped up in their discussion to bother about it. He sat on the ground at Akane's feet and for a moment sat in silence, before commenting casually, "So how do you know magic, anyway?"

"Go away," she replied sullenly. He glanced up and saw her eyes full of tears and her hands tightly clenched.

"I could," he said sunnily, "go away, back over, there and tell them that your sister is a magic user as well, hm?" She looked down at him with anger and fear. "But I don't think that's what you want, so why don't you sit down here and we can have a nice, polite conversation where you tell me the truth about what's going on here."

She stared at him mutely for a minute without blinking or, as far as Fai could tell, breathing. She sat so suddenly that he almost flinched, and continued her silence, staring at her hands instead of the wizard's blue eyes. With an effort, she opened her fists and grimaced at the red indentations her nails had left in her palms. "What do you want to know?" she asked quietly.

"How you and your sister know magic," he repeated himself, "when that's supposed to be the business of your enemies."

"You can keep that to yourself, can't you?" she asked fiercely.

"Oh, I'm a master of secrecy," Fai smiled brilliantly. "And you're doing such a good job of protecting your sister that I would hate to see your efforts go to waste."

"Yeah, well, magic is - it's the worst possible thing, for Tomoyo's people." she laughed harshly. "If they think I'm a witch, well, I can live with that, but I don't want them to ostracize her, too."

"Why would they do that?"

"Oh, a few hundred years ago, some priest - some ancestor of mine," she shuddered, "decreed that magic was an abomination, an offense to Yuna, and unnatural. At the time there were a number of magic users in the villages that worship Yuna. But there was a 'purging,'" she spat the word the same way the men spat the word magic, "and all the magic users were forced out or killed. They moved to the Ven woods and became bitter and hostile. At first, they just tried to spite the villages, cut them off from the forest, which was sacred to Yuna. But that bitterness became hatred and got passed along to future generation, and then -" she shrugged. "War."

"That's not the story Takaki told," Fai remarked, noticing with interest how the redhead twitched at the doctor's name.

"Yeah, well, that's not his fault. He knows the 'official' version. You know, the Venians are evil, and no follower of Yuna has ever practiced magic. The villagers don't even know that the forest dwellers _are_ followers of Yuna."

"I'm guessing your sister's counting on that fact," he observed.

Akane shifted. "You make a lot of correct guess, archer."

Fai tapped the side of his face. "I just have some good hunches, I suppose."

Akane snorted with disbelief. "Well, you're right. Tomoyo is convinced that the Venians are more similar to us than they are different, and she wants to end the war. Of course, everyone wants the war to be over, but the villagers want to win - they've been fighting for too long to give up. She wants a treaty, before more damage is done."

"You speak very highly of your sister."

"She's right, though. We need peace. But a lot of people won't accept that."

"Especially not from a priestess who uses magic? One who might be seen as an enemy spy?"

"Shut up about that!" she hissed, glancing over at the others and seeing they were wrapped up in their discussion. Currently Kazuki and Touya were pushing against the open doorway - quite an odd sight - and Syaoran battering the wall with Hien's hilt.

"So what is it? Are you Venians?"

"No! But look, back then, when they purged the magic users - they made a lot of mistakes. Magic isn't as bad as everyone thinks it is, okay? There's nothing wrong with using it, but people don't know that because the priests have been lying to them for so long. Onee-san wants to fix that, but it's not gonna be easy. For one thing, the Venians have their own propaganda, and most of them feel the same way the villagers do. That's where you guys come in."

"We were supposed to take Sakura-chan's feather away from them."

"Yeah. They're using it as some sort of weapon, or something."

A few fragments clicked into place in Fai's mind. The odd talisman that their assailant had worn around his neck had been the source of his magic - it seemed that not all Venians had the ability to do magic on their own, which made sense if they were descended from the same people as the largely non-magical villagers. Sakura's feather was more than powerful enough to grant magic to a few soldiers.

_So Tomoyo wants to cool things down, and the first step toward peace is a cease fire, which won't happen if you have two well-armed and angry forces. The villagers are falling apart, they can't keep fighting much longer at this rate, but that still leaves the forest dwellers. If Tomoyo tries to negotiate now, it looks like a surrender, and they never solve any of their problems. So she needs to weaken their forces, but she doesn't attack them because she wants to minimize bloodshed._

_And then we drop into her laps as if by magic, or fate._

Another thing clicked, but Fai's mind was moving too fast, building ideas upon ideas, and he had to be sure. _Akane was surprised and angry to see Tomoyo in the forest - that wasn't according to the plan._ "Tomoyo wasn't supposed to meet us here," he said. "We were supposed to meet her, in the village, because we were supposed to have transported there."

Akane nodded, shutting her eyes. "When I met you - Sakura-chan fit the description so perfectly, but you were supposed to have a guide, and you weren't supposed to have gotten this far into the forest. That's why I was afraid that you were lying. You didn't see, but I attacked the other guy. I was scared that you were impostors, posing as the people onee-san was looking for, and that Takaki would lead you to her. What did happen to the shadow, anyway?"

"He died, in the same battle that I got injured in. We never made it to the transport spell."

"Obviously." She sniffed and opened her eyes. "Why the hell did that have to happen? Why couldn't you have gone where you were supposed to? Then Tomoyo would be safe, and no one would know..."

"I apologize," Fai replied formally.

"I'm just pissed off," Akane said gloomily. "Everything's messed up now."

"Well if it's any consolation, you aren't the only one who's worried."

Akane almost smiled. "It could be worse, after all. You could be out here, and your angry friend could be locked in here with me. _That's_ a frightening thought. He sure is protective of you."

"Kuro-sama's very determined to see that nothing bad happens to his family," Fai said lightly, as though he thought nothing much of the girl's comment. "I'm sure that he's keeping Sakura-chan safe right now, and Tomoyo-chan too." Akane looked skeptical, so Fai continued. "Kuro-tappa won't let anything bad happen to your sister. He's a good person, and I know that's hard to believe, but he really is. And he likes your sister. She reminds him of someone very important."

Akane just shook her head. "Wishful thinking."

"So? It's better than pouting in a corner." Fai stood carefully and extended a hand to Akane to help her up.

"I'm not wanted over there."

"Does that matter? If you aren't welcome somewhere, that just means you haven't convinced the people to let you in! Or nagged them enough that they give up."

This time the redhead did smile, though it was a small weak smile. She took his hand but made no effort to stand up. Instead, she moved her hand in a circle and whispered something. Fai felt the surge of magic at the same time that he felt a soothing sensation around his wounded side. Strength flowed through him, and he had no trouble helping the girl to her feet now that she was ready to get up. He raised an eyebrow.

"Out of curiosity, why a circle?"

"It's a symbol of life, and Yuna, because we all travel back to her in the end."

Fai almost left it at that, but the woman looked - scared, and defiant, and haunted, so he felt there could be little harm in trying to encourage her. "That's a useful talent you have. Healing is the best thing a person can do."

She looked as though she hadn't heard, but just as they reached the others she said "Thanks."

"But you have prayers, don't you?" Syaoran was saying.

"Yes," Yukito answered slowly, in the manner of someone who deeply regrets being the bearer of bad news. "But prayers are usually asking for blessings, not asking for them to be lifted. And for the most part, prayers aren't answered immediately in a concrete way, unless it's a priest or similar religious figure asking."

"Well, we do have a religious figure of sorts here," Syaoran asked, looking pointedly at Akane.

"No," she said, at the same time Kazuki and Yukito.

"Why not? Takaki-san said that the position of priest is hereditary, so whatever religious status Tomoyo-san has, you must have some of, or a similar thing."

"Not exactly," Yukito tried to explain.

"I abdicated from all that," Akane clarified.

"Yes, but you haven't renounced your religion or anything, have you?" Syaoran asked.

The woman looked deeply offended. "Of course not!"

"Then can't you still ask Yuna for favor?"

"It's complicated," she replied, shifting uncomfortably. "I understand what you're getting at, but it won't work."

"This is certainly a fortress. Force isn't working, religion isn't, the protection doesn't seem to be wearing off and neither does the fog..." he trailed off. "I know this is not going to be a popular suggestion, but what about magic?"

"That's -" Touya began.

"Shut up," Akane snapped. "Onee-san's out there, and I'm going to do whatever I can to try and help, and I have just _given up_ on caring what you think." She shot Takaki a quick glance, but he was still meticulously avoiding looking at her. She straightened her back and breathed in and out, then walked up to the doorway. She put her hands against the marble solid air and her eyes drifted out of focus.

Kazuki frowned. "Look, you aren't from around here, so maybe you wouldn't understand, but this is a serious issue."

Syaoran hesitated. His father had taught him to respect other cultures and traditions, and he didn't want to become one of those people who said the ends justified the means, but he could see no other choice. He had to get outside, or get Sakura inside, and they couldn't even contact Yuko. If it meant using magic...

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, "But I don't think we have a choice. You want to save Tomoyo-san, don't you?"

"Of course we do," Yukito replied automatically.

"Is there any other way we could get out? Anything you can think of?" Syaoran asked. "What else is there to do?"

"Nothing," Touya sighed, sounding less than convinced. "I hate to admit it, but the foreigner," he glared pointedly at Syaoran in an oh-so-familiar way, "might have a point. We can't just do nothing."

"Now that we're all acting so friendly," Akane said sarcastically, lower her arm and shaking her head as though trying to clear it out, "I feel kind of bad to say this is not working."

_Meaning, you're magic isn't as strong as Tomoyo's_, Fai translated in his head.

Syaoran felt his hopes die just a bit, but tried to stay positive. "You can't do anything?"

"I'm afraid not," she sighed. "Besides the blessing, there's the spell out there, with the fog. It's just too much."

"Can you tell us anything, at least?" Syaoran wasn't going to accept failure.

He could tell that she didn't want to, after a moment she spoke slowly, "Things have - quieted down."

"How so?"

"There isn't a fight out there, or any movement. Actually, I don't hear _anyone_ out there."

While Syaoran struggled with his emotions, Touya struggled with disproval and managed to ask Akane, "Could it just be some mistake, or something? How reliable is your _magic_?"

"For this, pretty good," she said, respecting the effort he was making to be civil and trying to reply in kind.

"Could you try again?" Syaoran pleaded. "And see if you can do anything else, just in case."

"Fine, fine," the redhead agreed, and resumed her former position.

Mokona cleared his throat. "They wouldn't have gone away, would they?"

"Maybe," Fai shrugged. "If they couldn't win by fighting, they might have run off to where it's safer."

"I don't know about that," Touya said regretfully. "The wolves are very fast. I'm sure you noticed."

There was a tense pause, during which images of the wolves pursuing and catching up with their friends played through their minds. Syaoran broke the silence by snapping his fingers. "Akane!"

"Hm?" she turned halfway towards him, but her eyes were still half-closed and distant.

"You can see out there?"

"It's...hazy."

"Can you tell what is out there, or just that nothing is going on?"

"There's nothing out there."

"No -" his throat closed on the word - "bodies?"

Her eyes closed further still. "No."

That was something at least, but he needed more. "What about further away, like outside the clearing?"

"I can't see that far."

He frowned. "Look, you said that the wolves couldn't have got through on their own," he turned back to Yukito. "Isn't it possible that some wizards were here? Maybe they took Sakura-hime and the others captive."

"And that's a good thing, is it?" Touya asked, not really sure about Syaoran's hopeful tone.

"If it means they're alive," Syaoran replied. "That's always a good thing."

"Okay, but how does that help us?" Touya wasn't going to admit so easily that Syaoran was right.

"Maybe..." Syaoran racked his brain for some solution that was possible and positive, and one presented itself. "If the wizards were here, and cast the spell nearby, maybe it will wear off when they go away."

"So? If they take our people and run off, where does that leave us?"

"We can always hunt them down, but first we have to get out of here." Syaoran was adamant about this. He was sure he was on to something.

Yukito was nodding in agreement, but Touya was less than convinced. "You still don't know that for sure."

"Yes, well, think about it," Syaoran said. "You've been at war with the Venians for a long time. Tomoyo-san is more or less your leader. They probably wouldn't kill her. It would make more sense for them to take her captive so they can try to bargain, or force you to surrender. The wolves aren't rational creatures, so they probably wouldn't understand that, and it would be necessary to send some people along with them to make sure she didn't get hurt or escape, right?"

Touya mulled this over and could find no flaw with the logic, except that this by no means guaranteed that the boy's friends would also be spared from the wolves. His companions certainly hadn't. Still, he wasn't so heartless as to point this out to the poor boy who was exuding such optimism and determination. He simply said, "Right."

Syaoran was on a roll. "If the spell really does wear off when the wizards leave, then it's only a matter of time?" He caught Fai's eye, as though asking _That could be true, couldn't it? The spell might not hold up?_

Fai nodded. "What do you say, Akane-chan?" he asked.

She blinked. "Dammit, you keep bothering me. What is it now?"

The blond waved a hand, dismissing her irritation. "Is the fog spell wearing off?"

"Yeah, actually."

"Hyuu, Syaoran-kun's so smart!"

"Great!" Syaoran smiled broadly. "So we just have to wait it out, don't we?"

"Not exactly," Touya reminded him. "It's the protection on the temple that's trapped us all in here."

Akane, still twitchy from having been interrupted, answered quickly. "No, because the wolves are gone. When there's no more spell, there'll be nothing more to protect us _from_, and it'll let us go."

"What, so we just wait?" the soldier retorted.

No one was very happy with that prospect, but it seemed that there was nothing else to be done. They settled down, feeling rather awkward in each other's presence now that there was nothing to do and now task to overcome their differences. Akane sat with her back against the wall and her eyes shut, apparently unobservant of everything. Yukito and Touya walked further off, discussing something quietly. Whatever it was, Touya didn't seem very happy about it, and Yukito kept making emphatic gestures with his hands. Kazuki walked over to Yuna's statue and prayed, or at least knelt in front of it with a look of concentration on his face. Fai, Syaoran, and Mokona sat, eyeing the others cautiously for a moment.

"What happened earlier?" Fai asked Mokona. "You couldn't contact Yuko?"

The little boy shook his head, looking troubled. "I tried, but nothing happened! Mokona's very worried."

"But you're still translating for us just fine." Syaoran pointed out.

Mokona perked up. "I hadn't thought about that!"

"What about everything else?" Fai asked, keeping his voice low and looking out the corner of his eyes. The others seemed far enough away, and engrossed in their own pursuits; Touya and Yukito were now talking to Takaki, who was shaking his head. "You can sense the magic here, right?"

Mokona paused. "I can't sense anything outside the temple," he mourned, "all I can sense is the magic around the temple, which is very odd. They kept saying it was the blessing from Yuna, but Mokona spent time in those safe spots before! They were very different from this. They weren't like magic, they were a different kind of force. Maybe I'm broken," he concluded, looking as though his heart were breaking. "Mokona in a funny body is not really Mokona..."

"Of course you are!" Fai assured him, tapping him on the nose. The white-haired child leaned back too quickly and almost toppled over, before Syaoran caught him. "You're Mokona because of this -" he poked the boy's chest, just over his heart, "Not because of your shape or your abilities, hm? Besides, you're right about the temple. It is magic, and apparently you can't get passed it either."

"So Tomoyo-san was lying, too?" Syaoran puzzled.

Fai nodded. "There's some secret that's been passed down through their family. Apparently the issue isn't quite as simple as the villagers think it is. Tomoyo-san was trying to arrange a peace settlement. The matter hinged on us taking the feather away from the forest dwellers."

Syaoran sighed. "I wish the feather's weren't always being abused."

"Well, that just makes us heroes for reclaiming them," Fai cheered.

The brown-haired boy laughed but then noticed something odd. "Fai-san, you're acting normal." He realized exactly what he had said and hastened to correct himself. "I mean, you seem to be feeling better..."

"Yep!" Fai poked his side, where the wound had been. "A little present from Akane."

"That's a bit of good news, anyway," Syaoran grinned, but his joy was waning. He was tired, and Sakura was gone away somewhere. He refused to think that she might be hurt. He could see her, when he closed his eyes, a vision of perfection. It warmed him to the bones, and he didn't notice the room was drifting away...

"Syaoran-kun?" Mokona asked tentatively. With two companions missing, he wasn't prepared for anything to happen to the two he had left.

Fai shook his head slightly and raised a finger to his lips. 'Sleeping' he mouthed, and Mokona nodded with evident relief. The blond moved to sit beside Syaoran and pulled him closer, so that the boy's head was resting on his shoulder. Mokona, used to constant contact with people, scooted closer and leaned against the blond's other side.

They sat like that for sometime, Mokona squirming occasionally as he suppressed some comment or unpleasant thought. He felt the moment was too quiet, too solemn for interruptions, but try as he did he couldn't prevent himself completely from thinking of all the things that could be happening. Fai sympathized with him because he had his own nightmares playing out in his head, and he was doing his best to ignore them. He wasn't having much success with that, but he drew some comfort from Mokona and Syaoran's presence, as well as the thought that Kurogane was too damn stubborn to die now. It helped him stay patient as the magic melted slowly around him.

-

AN: Hello, all! Recently watched Into the Woods with my sister (who's home for the holidays – yay!), so I've been walking about the house singing _constantly_, which is not a pretty sight (sound?). I just love that musical and highly recommend it for any musical lovers out there!

Um, I had a point? Oh yeah, watching the musical that is the namesake for this story got me thinking I really should get this chapter up, so here it is! Hope you liked it, even if very little was actually accomplished. Next chapter there is the fate of Kuro, Sakura, and Tomoyo to be discovered, but expect that in the new year. I have the next chapter of Games to do and, I must confess, I've been working on some new stories, too. At least I don't have any homework or anything to worry about...oh crap, wait, yes I do. Oh well, it's not like senior year is important...wait...um...I should go. Feel free to review or leave any sort of comments, and may this season hold lots of joy and wonderful surprises for you! Best wishes.


	8. Chapter 8

He was very nearly blind, and his hearing was only slightly better than that. It was like being smothered in a thick gray blanket, or perhaps more like drowning. His movements slowed in the thick air, and it was hard to breath.

The only good thing Kurogane could find about the situation was that his enemies seemed to be having as much trouble with it as he did. The wolves drew back momentarily, to try and regroup or else because they couldn't figure out where he was. He used the respite to reach out for Sakura. Where had she been when he could last see her...? After several long seconds, his hand encountered something solid - an arm.

"Princess?" he asked, just to be sure, and immediately decided to do as little talking as possible in this atmosphere. The fog filled his mouth till he nearly chocked on it, and his voice sounded weak and pathetic even to his ears.

"Kuro..." Sakura answered. She seemed to have discovered the same disastrous effects the fog had on the respiratory system, and her voice dissolved in a fit of coughing.

He was mildly concerned about that, but before anything could be done, he heard a growling sound which, given its volume, was either _very_ loud or _very _close by. Holding onto Sakura's shoulder with his left hand, he shut his eyes and felt a presence just in front of him and a bit to the right. Grateful for the lessons that had been drilled into him, and that he had passed on to the kid, he lashed out and was rewarded with a yelping sound. The wolf scampered off, where it met up with more of its friends.

Kurogane would have cursed, but he couldn't afford to, so he ground his teeth and gripped the princess' shoulder a little harder. She didn't mind, preferring the minor discomfort to the thought of being separated from her protector. _After this_, she thought with grim determination, _I'm going to make Kurogane-san teach me to fight. Even if I just know a little, that would be something._ She nodded and clenched her fists, but for now the most she could do was do her best to stay out of the ninja's way.

His initial reservations aside, the battle wasn't actually as bad as he had feared it would be. In some ways, it was easier than the previous fighting against these scaly adversaries. They seemed to have a difficult time sensing him, when he could find them fairly easily. Their agility didn't help them dodge when they didn't know where he was coming from.

On the other hand, his movements were slowed significantly, and he had to keep firm hold of the princess the whole time. She did her best to aid him, stepping forward or back to match his motion, but it still hampered him. More than once, he had to spin her around swiftly to catch a wolf coming up from the other side. It was more than a little like dancing, odd though the thought was, and he dismissed it immediately. Slightly more difficult to get rid of was the thought of Fai teasing him about it.

If there was one more positive aspect to be found, it was that there seemed to be fewer of the wolves than before. It made it easier for the pair to retreat, trying to put the temple at their back. That task took longer that it should have, considering the distance that Kurogane remembered being from the wall, but they got their in the end, wolves lurking a short distance away.

That's when things got weird.

The ground underfoot started to shake, and Sakura's treacherous feet slipped out from under her. She pulled herself up with Kurogane's help and stumbled as she tried to regain her balance. What _was_ going on? She thought she could hear something, but it was so faint that she wasn't sure if it was really there.

The earth settled down after a second, and she would have been relieved if Kurogane hadn't suddenly pulled her closer. Not being able to express her bewilderment, or to read the expression on his face, made her more anxious, but she beat off her worry. At least the ground had stopped moving...

But now there was that noise again, and she still couldn't tell if she was imagining it or not. Perhaps her ears, straining their hardest to hear something through the muffling cloud around, were creating a noise that wasn't there.

There was another sound, this one unmistakable, because they were so familiar with it– a growl from the throat of one of the mutated creatures hunting for them in the fog. Before Kurogane could strike the creature down, though, there was a flash of light. The ninja saw it even with his eyes shut, and Sakura gasped, forgetting the inadvisability of opening her mouth due to the pain as the brightness burned her eyes. The streak of light sped passed them, briefly clearing their surroundings, though neither of them was in a state to look around. Kurogane did notice that the wolves beat a hasty retreat and was thankful for small blessings. The battle was wearing him down quickly, considering the extra effort exerted, and he was having trouble breathing.

The quieter sound came again, and though Sakura still didn't know what it was, she was suddenly seized by the certainty that she had to be wherever that sound was coming from. Now. With her free hand covering her dazed eyes, she stepped slowly in the direction she thought it came from – the same direction as the light.

Kurogane felt her tugging him to follow, but he dug his feet into the ground and remained immobile. He heard no noise, and could not understand where she was wandering off to.

Sakura tugged once more, but had no success in getting him to move an inch. She frowned and hesitated for one moment, but the sound came again, and this time she knew what it was – it was someone calling her name. She had to find that person, and if Kurogane wasn't going to let her, she just had one choice. She twisted her arm and slipped out of his reach before he could react and set off running as quickly as she dared.

The ninja raced after her, a step behind but somehow unable to catch her. They had only been running for a minute, in any case, before Sakura felt a hand on her arm – someone in the fog had grabbed her. She had the presence of mind not to gasp this time, instead trying to twist away from the stranger as she had from Kurogane, but it didn't work. She lashed out with one hand, but met nothing – the person had dodged quickly. Just as she was gathering her strength to break free, she heard that ethereal voice – _Sakura_.

She blinked. "Tomoyo-san?" She was so shocked to have run into the young priestess that she didn't realize, at first, that she had spoken easily with no trouble from the fog. That second surprise sunk in a moment later, and she also realized that she could move and breathe more easily. She was still blinded from the flash of light, but after a minute of blinking rapidly it seemed...yes, she could just make out Tomoyo's blurry form.

Kurogane heard Sakura's voice and opened his eyes. Since his vision was working properly he noticed immediately that they were standing in a small circle where there was no fog. It was slightly eerie to see the gray walls of mist around them, but he ignored that as not being terribly important. "What happened?" he growled at Tomoyo, pulling Sakura away from her.

The priestess smiled sadly and shook her head. "We didn't make it to the temple in time."

He didn't like the sound of that. "In time for what?"

"Very soon, soldiers are going to follow to do what the wolves cannot. The temple has been sealed off to protect those inside."

"What about us?" Sakura asked, though the question she wanted to ask was, _How safe are the others inside the temple?_

"This area," Tomoyo waved with her hand to indicate the hollow sphere they stood inside, "Will offer us some protection. Whether or not it is enough – " she shrugged, seeming almost casual. "We won't know that until the soldiers arrive."

"Oh? And is this more protection from your god?" Kurogane asked, making his doubt apparent. "Or more of your forbidden magic?"

The priestess spoke, sounding like a trainer congratulating a particularly clever dog. "I guess I underestimated you. I had hoped you wouldn't figure that out, although things have gotten so far out of hand that at the moment, it probably makes very little difference. Out of curiosity, though, how _did_ you know?"

Kurogane glared at her. He had though that last question would be enough to ruffle her feathers, but no. It was the same old story all over again. He answered, slightly resentful, "I've seen enough magic to have an idea of what it is and isn't. And I've been lied to enough times to have an idea of when I'm being told the truth."

Sakura looked startled. She had, after all, missed Mokona's news and the discussion it provoked. "What about Yuna?" she asked, looking from Kurogane to Tomoyo with eyes that were now working fairly well.

Tomoyo answered slowly. "Not everything you were told is a lie," she started. "Yuna really does protect the temple, and she really did tell me about your coming here, and about the feather. The problem is, for years we have fought a war over magic – whether magic is the correct way to honor Yuna, or whether it is the greatest offense to her, when in fact it is neither. It's simply a part of the natural world. But it's very hard to get two enemies to listen to the truth when they're too busy fighting each other. My intent was for you to help me get the feather and end the war."

"And then what? Things would suddenly work themselves out and everyone will start getting along?" Kurogane hoped to provoke an emotional response that would tell him _something_, or at the very least be slightly amusing. Again, it didn't quite work out.

"I don't expect it will be easy," Tomoyo answered, a trifle regretfully. "But there are others among the villagers, and among the Venians, who are tired of the war and are willing to listen to reason. Together, we can change."

"Good luck with that," Kurogane muttered. "So why not just explain that from the beginning? Why all the tricks with the damn shadow creature, and messing with the manjuu?"

"Manjuu...?" Tomoyo asked, genuinely mystified. The ninja finally got to hear her tone change to something less self-assured, but he was too annoyed to be happy about it.

"He means Moko-chan," Sakura stepped in helpfully.

"What an odd nickname," the priestess laughed. "But I still don't know what you mean! I was simply trying to help him find you."

Sakura and Kurogane exchanged looks, and their uneasy manner did not escape her notice. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"If she didn't change Mokona..." Kurogane frowned.

"Who did?" Sakura finished in a whisper.

"I'm really starting to hate this place," Kurogane said, making the princess smile very briefly as she wondered how many times he had said that, or something like it. The levity lasted for only a moment, though, before worry set in again.

"You and Akane-san are the only villagers who use magic?" Sakura asked Tomoyo urgently.

"No, there are a few others," Tomoyo replied, not understanding their concern but giving them the benefit of the doubt, "but they don't know much, and they wouldn't act without telling me."

Sakura started thinking aloud. "If it was a Venian, why didn't they just capture him, or capture all of us?"

"Maybe something went wrong," Kurogane grumbled.

Sakura's eyes lit up. "Or _maybe_ they're on our side!" She didn't let the ninja's pessimistic glare damper her spirits, and she turned to Tomoyo excitedly. "You said there are Venians who want to end the war too, who want to listen to the truth. Do you know any of them? Do any of them know about us?"

The priestess shook her head. "I only ever met one of them, because it was too dangerous to risk being caught with the enemy. She died recently. She told me about the others, but I don't know who they are. As far as I know, they don't know about you either, but it wouldn't have been impossible for them to find out."

"The same could be said for our enemies," Kurogane reminded them. "They have magic and they don't hesitate to use it. They could have found out what we were doing here and then tried to separate us."

"But Kurogane-san, if it were them, why didn't they just kill him? Or kill all of us?" Sakura was pleading with him to see her version of events, because she didn't like his very much.

His red eyes focused in on her with an intensity that was unnerving. "That's what they're trying to do right now, princess."

"Quiet!" Tomoyo hissed, and the others jumped a little to hear how forceful she sounded. "Sit down, don't talk, and _don't_ move. The fog's clearing."

Quickly following her instructions, they saw that she was right. The mist did not vanish all at once but faded away. Already they could see the trees at the edge of the clearing and the dark shape of the temple. "The soldiers will follow soon," the priestess added, so quietly they could barely hear her, "but they won't find us if we stay silent and still."

Sakura almost nodded her understanding but caught herself and instead focused on not moving. It was rather like what Kurogane had shown her the night before about keeping watch. A few minutes passed by agonizingly slow before the entire clearing was visible and she could see figures moving in.

There were eleven of them, each carrying a weapon and wearing armor and helmets. Following close to their heels was a small pack of the wolves that had pestered Sakura and her friends throughout their time in the woods. She was relieved when one of the soldiers waved his hands and the wolves dispersed out in the forest, and she had to remind herself that they were not the serious threat.

The soldiers looked around the clearing and noticed that it was empty – or seemed to be, at least. One of them spoke and, since his words were apparently no more intelligible to his companions than they were to the hidden trio, he flipped up the visor on his helmet. "Looks like they all scampered inside the temple."

Other soldiers followed his example so they could discuss what to do next.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"Think we can get through?"

"Are you kidding? How do you suggest we do that, huh?"

"We tore down that other barrier, didn't we?"

"Yeah, but that was hard work."

"Suck it up!"

"Go to hell!"

"Shut up, all of you," said a man who seemed to be in charge. The arguing soldiers became more subdued, though two of them exchanged hostile glares when their leader turned to look around the clearing. They snapped back to attention when he started speaking again.

"We don't know what kinds of traps they might have laid out before they holed up. I don't want to be caught by surprise, is that clear? Before we start worrying about that temple we're going to secure this place. Check through and through for anything slightly suspicious. In the meantime, our friends can just settle down inside. If worse comes to worse, we'll have a good old-fashioned siege on our hands, and we know how to handle that."

There was some laughter among the men, and they set out to their task with more enthusiasm and camaraderie than before. Two men were walking closer and closer to Sakura, Kurogane, and Tomoyo, but there was nothing they could do but wait and hope.

One of the approaching soldiers tripped, and the other reached out to steady him. "Looks like you found one of the 'dangerous traps' the enemy left behind, eh?" he laughed, slapping his partner on the back. "Maybe you oughta take off that helmet; you're klutzy enough when you can actually see what you're doing."

The first soldier nodded and reached up with one hand to flip up his visor.

Sakura, in her surprise, leaned forward a fraction of an inch.

She froze in place the second she realized what she had done, but it was already too late. The soldier had seen her, she knew it. His eyes immediately focused in on where she was, although once she had stopped moving she had once again become invisible to him. The shock on his face perfectly matched her own shock.

_Syaoran._

But not Syaoran, really – just a doppelganger. The real Syaoran was locked up in the temple, safe and out of sight; and yet, though she knew that, for one moment when she saw his face she forgot it was not her friend that was standing a few feet away.

This boy was an enemy.

"Huh? Syaoran-kun, what's up? You look like you've seen a ghost." The other soldier had been teasing Syaoran and therefore facing away from Sakura. He hadn't seen...but it didn't matter. She had already messed up.

"Whoa, you don't really sense a trap, do you?" the second soldier continued when Syaoran didn't answer him immediately. "I was pretty sure the big man was just being paranoid when he said that..."

"What? No, sorry," Syaoran shook his head and murmured. "I was just, ah, thinking about something."

"What?" the soldier asked, suspiciously.

Syaoran just shook his head again. "Nothing important. When I tripped just now, it made me think of that one time, the day after the battle at Tansav – "

The soldier laughed. "Ah man, I remember that! That was absolutely priceless. How drunk were you that day, anyway?"

Syaoran laughed, too, and turned around. "Not as drunk as you were."

"I was not drunk!" his friend protested, and the two walked away from the spot where three people were sitting still and trying to contain their emotions.

For a moment, it seemed like they were going to get out of this alright.

All the soldiers began drifting back to their commander, who became increasingly agitated with every report he was given. "You idiots are missing something," he yelled, "I can feel it!"

"Sir, there's _nothing here_," one of the soldiers tried explaining to him. "They're in the temple and they probably just didn't have time to set any traps or anything."

"You pathetic excuses for men are going to get yourselves all killed someday, but it isn't going to be today," the leader growled, "because _I'm_ not gonna die for your stupidity. There. Is. Something. In this clearing."

"Er, sir, no disrespect meant, but if that's the case, why can't we detect it?" one particularly brave, or dim, soldier pointed out.

"Because you are blind, lazy, stupid, and the worst soldiers to ever put on a uniform," he snapped, "and because giving someone a trinket does not make them a magician. I wouldn't trust you clowns to find an enemy combatant if he was standing right in front of you, holding a sword to your throat!"

The soldiers shifted nervously – they'd all heard this rant before, but no one was going to interrupt him. Instead, they stood around with the awkward air of children who have just been scolded by their parents, and watched as he drew his sword. He held it before his face briefly, muttering a few words no one could distinguish, and suddenly swung the sword around in front of him. Two of the more nervous soldiers jumped back, though they were already far enough away that there was no danger.

He didn't give any indication of having seen this; in fact, he seemed to be ignoring his soldiers entirely. All his attention was focused on the blade in his hand, which he was now holding parallel to the ground. He moved, very slowly, taking one step forward, turning slightly, taking a few more steps and turning about forty degrees, so that he was facing directly towards Kurogane, Sakura, and Tomoyo.

"Nothing here?" the man sneered at his soldiers, who still looked at a loss. He turned back and looked at a spot a few feet above the head of the priestess, who was wondering what the odds were that one of the few magicians who knew that revealing spell would have been sent on this mission. "You can show yourself, peasant," he called out, "I know you are there, and I can tear down that pretty little charm of yours in a heartbeat."

He wasn't bluffing, exactly; he _could_ dismantle the hiding spell, but it would take a lot of work and time. He simply wanted to make the enemy do the hard work for him. Tomoyo suspected as much, but she had two good reasons to want to prevent him from removing her enchantment. Praying for the wellbeing of her companions, she stood and stepped outside the protective circle, becoming immediately visible to ten very shocked soldiers and their smug leader.

"Well, what do you know," he bragged, lowering his sword. "It's their precious village priestess. Looks like your goddess wasn't doing such a good job of protecting you, hm?"

Tomoyo wasn't intimidated by his sneer, or by the other soldiers who promptly drew their own swords and moved to form a circle around her. She stood as regally as any queen and spoke with her customary calm. "This place is sacred. Whatever you plan to do, let us leave first."

"Not so fast, little girl. We're not leaving here until your friends come out of hiding."

"My friends? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play stupid, girl. The ones hiding in the temple."

Tomoyo's expression changed to one of surprise and horror. "Inside the temple? You aren't suggesting anyone would enter the holy temple of Yuna!"

The leader was a bit taken aback by this response. "...Yes?"

The priestess, despite her short stature, managed to look down at him disapprovingly. "If you were not a barbarian, you would know that entering that place would be _sacrilege._"

"Well then why did those shields go up?"

She managed to express, without words, that his need to ask that question demonstrated he was the stupidest creature to live. "To stop you _heathens_ from defiling the temple, of course."

Either her very convincing acting skills or his anger prevented him from questioning the legitimacy of her claim. That did not, unfortunately, mean that he was an idiot. "Shut up," he growled. "I don't know where they are, but you have allies hiding here somewhere, and I will tear the forest apart to find them!"

Thoughts were racing through Kurogane's head. The need to protect his companions in the temple. The strange loyalty he owed to this woman who was, and yet was not, his princess. The willingness to sacrifice himself, to come out of hiding, so that Sakura could stay safe.

He could not be expected to know that Sakura was having the exact same thoughts, or that she would make her decision at the same moment that he did. Both stepped forward, glancing at each other with shock, but it was too late to go back now. Already soldiers, who were quickly getting used to the idea of people appearing out of thin air, were rushing toward the rather intimidating ninja.

Kurogane glanced at Tomoyo, who interpreted the question in his gaze and shook her head. He wasn't happy with that answer, but he didn't attempt to fight off the soldier either. One of them took his sword and two others grabbed him by the arms.

_What's going to happen,_ a distressed Sakura thought.

_We'll get out of this, Sakura-chan, I promise_.

Her eyes widened and she gasped a little. The soldiers seemed to think this was from fear at being caught, but in truth it was surprise at hearing that voice in her head.

_Tomoyo-san?_ she thought, feeling a little silly about addressing the priestess in her thoughts. 

Sakura looked over at Tomoyo, who didn't seem to notice but had her gaze fixed on the lead soldier. She did, however, answer. _Yes, it's me._

_How?_

Her voice was joyful even though her outward demeanor remained serious. _It's because you helped me with the ceremony_, she explained. _We have a link between us now._

Two soldiers snatched Sakura and twisted her arms around behind her. Despite her attempts at stoicism, she still had to flinch slightly at the sudden pain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the soldier who looked like Syaoran flinch slightly, too.

The leader thought that more caution must be taken with Tomoyo. He placed a hand on her neck and chanted something. The off-worlders did not know what it meant, but it sounded unpleasant. When he had finished, he smiled in a predatorily sort of way. "Try using magic without your voice, little girl," he taunted.

_Did he really take away your voice?_ Sakura asked urgently.

_Yes, though it's only a temporary procedure._

_But you can still use magic, can't you?_

_No. Not magic like you mean._

_Then what?_

_One does not need words to speak to Yuna._

It was not as reassuring a comment as Tomoyo apparently thought it would be, but it would have to do. The soldiers pushed their captives to get them walking forward, and didn't seem to think that the pace Sakura set was fast enough. They marched very rapidly and did not even slow down when they were out of the clearing, as she had expected them too. She was being half-dragged, and the pain that caused in her arms and shoulders was excruciating. She had to focus hard just to walk without stumbling and not let her pain show, and she was too distracted to speak with Tomoyo, or to notice the odd expression on the face of the familiar looking boy.

AN: Wow, I suck. Last time I posted I was wishing y'all merry Christmas. Now it's Easter. What can I say except that I'm sorry? There was this...weird family issue that sprang up, then finals, and then all my teachers decided that they wanted to make my last semester of high school as FUN as possible by assigning backbreaking amounts of work. Writing, well, just got pushed to the side, and by the time I came back to it, it had been awhile since I'd really been actively interested in Tsubasa, which made it hard to jump back in. (Wait, who's this "Syaoran" person again?).

HOWEVER (and take this with a grain of salt cause we all know what poor planning skills I have when it comes to writing) this story _might_ be wrapped up in a few more chapters. Thank you for your patience and if anyone is still reading this story, please review and let me know how it turned out.


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